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BOOK 6 OF 66 · HISTORY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Joshua 2

Joshua book home•Chapter 2 of 24•24 verses
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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Joshua 2 Overview

Joshua sends two spies secretly to Jericho. Rahab hides them from the king’s men and explains that the people of Canaan have heard what the LORD did at the Red Sea and east of Jordan. She confesses that the LORD is God in heaven above and earth beneath, asks mercy for her family, and receives a sign of protection before the spies return with confidence that the land is given into Israel’s hand.

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24Verses
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Before you read Joshua 2

Coming from

Chapter 1 commissioned Joshua and ordered Israel to prepare to cross Jordan.

In this chapter

The reconnaissance of Jericho reveals not Israel’s fear but Canaan’s fear, and Rahab’s confession becomes the chapter’s central testimony to the LORD’s supremacy.

Leads into

Chapter 3 brings Israel to the Jordan, where the ark goes before them and the river stops so the nation can cross on dry ground.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Rahab is a Canaanite woman in a condemned city, yet she responds to what she has heard about the LORD with faith and decisive protection of Israel’s messengers. The scarlet cord is the agreed sign by which her household will be identified when Jericho falls; Scripture does not itself say the cord is a hidden symbol of Christ’s blood. The spies’ report reverses the fearful report of Numbers 13–14: now they return saying the inhabitants melt because of Israel.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Knowledge of God’s acts can produce either hardened resistance or faith; Rahab responds by acknowledging the LORD’s universal rule.

Truth 2

God’s judgment on Canaan does not prevent mercy toward an individual who turns in faith to Israel’s God.

Truth 3

Rahab’s protection of the spies places her life on the side of the LORD’s purposes rather than Jericho’s resistance.

Truth 4

The spies return with confidence rather than the unbelieving fear that marked the earlier generation.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Hebrews 11:31 explicitly commends Rahab’s faith in receiving the spies with peace.

Connection 2

James 2:25 cites Rahab’s actions as the outward deed connected with her faith in James’s argument about living faith before men.

Connection 3

Matthew 1:5 includes Rahab in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not make Rahab’s works the condition by which she received eternal life; Hebrews explicitly foregrounds her faith, while James discusses the visible completion of faith in action.

Keep this clear 2

Do not build doctrine on a speculative symbolism of the scarlet cord that Scripture never states.

Keep this clear 3

Rahab’s deception in the narrative should not be casually turned into a universal rule that lying is righteous; the text clearly praises her faith and reception of the spies, not every detail of the deception.

Read Joshua 2 watching for…

What Rahab says the Canaanites have heard.

Her exact confession about who the LORD is.

The promise the spies make concerning her household.

The conditions attached to the scarlet-cord signal.

How the spies’ final report differs from the report in Numbers 13–14.

TWBC REVIEW STANDARD

Plain language. Scripture first. Fact distinguished from inference. No filler. No fake certainty. Designed to help you read the Bible itself.

Chapter outline3 sections
1-7Joshua sends two spies and Rahab hides them8-21Rahab confesses faith in the LORD and receives a promise of safety22-24The spies return and report that the LORD has delivered the land
1

And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

2

And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.

3

And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.

4

And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:

5

And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.

6

But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

7

And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

8

And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;

9

And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

10

For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

11

And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

12

Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token:

13

And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

14

And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

15

Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

16

And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.

17

And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.

18

Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.

19

And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

20

And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

21

And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

22

And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

23

So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:

24

And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

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Joshua 2:21

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