1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies out from Shittim, telling them, "Go and look over the land, especially Jericho." They went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, "Some men from the children of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land."
3 So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land."
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "It is true, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.
5 At dusk, when it was time to shut the gate, the men left. Where they went I do not know. Chase after them quickly, and you will catch up with them."
6 In fact she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had spread out there.
7 So the men set out in pursuit of them along the road to the Jordan, toward the fords, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up to them on the roof
9 and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given you this land, that terror of you has fallen on us, and that all who live in the land are melting in fear because of you.
10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea ahead of you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction.
11 As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.
12 So now, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my father's family, since I have shown kindness to you. Give me a trustworthy sign
13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."
14 The men answered her, "Our lives for yours, even to death! If you do not reveal what we are doing, we will treat you with kindness and faithfulness when the LORD gives us the land."
15 So she let them down through the window by a rope, since her house was built into the city wall and she lived in the wall itself.
16 She told them, "Go into the hill country so that the pursuers will not find you. Hide there for three days until they come back, and then you can go on your way."
17 The men said to her, "We will be released from this oath you have made us swear
18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and have brought your father and mother, your brothers, and your whole family into your house.
19 If anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head.
20 And if you reveal what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you have made us swear."
21 She replied, "Let it be as you say." She sent them on their way, and they left. Then she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
22 They went off into the hill country and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had searched the whole road without finding them.
23 Then the two men came back down from the hill country, crossed the river, and came to Joshua son of Nun, and reported to him everything that had happened to them.
24 They told Joshua, "The LORD has certainly given the whole land into our hands. Everyone who lives there is melting in fear because of us."