Joshua 2:1

Joshua Sends Spies into the Land

2:1 Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: ¹  “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” ²  They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there. ³ 

Joshua 2:3

2:3 So the king of Jericho sent this order to Rahab: ⁴  “Turn over ⁵  the men who came to you ⁶  – the ones who came to your house ⁷  – for they have come to spy on the whole land!”

Joshua 6:17

6:17 The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ⁸  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ⁹  we sent.

Joshua 6:25

6:25 Yet Joshua spared ¹⁰  Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, ¹¹  and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel ¹²  to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho. ¹³ 

Joshua 7:2

7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho ¹⁴  to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel ¹⁵ ) and instructed them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.

Joshua 10:6

10:6 The men of Gibeon sent this message to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, “Do not abandon ¹⁶  your subjects! ¹⁷  Rescue us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings living in the hill country are attacking us.” ¹⁸ 

Joshua 14:7

14:7 I was forty years old when Moses, the Lord’s servant, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy on the land and I brought back to him an honest report. ¹⁹ 

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¹ tn Heb “Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying.”

² tn Heb “go, see the land, and Jericho.”

map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

³ tn Heb “they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there.”

⁴ tn Heb “and the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying.”

⁵ tn Heb “bring out.”

⁶ tn The idiom “come to” (בוֹא אֶל, bo’ ’el) probably has sexual connotations here, as it often does elsewhere when a man “comes to” a woman. If so, the phrase could be translated “your clients.” The instructions reflect Rahab’s perspective as to the identity of the men.

⁷ tn The words “the ones who came to your house” (Heb “who came to your house”) may be a euphemistic scribal addition designed to blur the sexual connotation of the preceding words.

⁸ tn Or “dedicated to the Lord.”

sn To make the city set apart for the Lord would involve annihilating all the people and animals and placing its riches in the Lord’s treasury (vv. 19, 21, 24).

⁹ tn Heb “messengers.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “kept alive.”

¹¹ tn Heb the house of her father.”

¹² tn Or “among the Israelites”; Heb “in the midst of Israel.”

¹³ map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

¹⁵ map For the location of Bethel see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

¹⁶ tn Heb “do not let your hand drop from us.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “your servants!”

¹⁸ tn Heb “have gathered against us.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “and I brought back to him a word just as [was] in my heart.”