¹Joshua son of Nun sent two men from Shittim to go about as spies in secret, saying: Go, see the land and Jericho. They went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab; and they lay down there.

²It was said to the king of Jericho, saying: Look, men from the children of Israel have come here tonight to explore the land.

³The king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying: Bring out the men who came to you, who came to your house, for they have come to explore all the land.

⁴The woman took the two men and hid them. She said: True, the men came to me, and I did not know where they were from.

⁵And it happened, as the gate was about to be shut in the darkness, that the men went out; I did not know where the men went. Run after them quickly, for you will overtake them.

⁶But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the flax-wood that had been arranged for her on the roof.

⁷The men chased after them along the road to the Jordan, as far as the fords; and they closed the gate as soon as the pursuers had gone out after them.

⁸Now they had not yet lain down when she went up to them on the roof.

⁹She said to the men: I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and your dread has fallen upon us, and all who dwell in the land have melted away before your face.

¹⁰For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the waters of the Reed Sea before your face when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were across the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you put under the ban.

¹¹We heard, and our heart dissolved, and not breath rose again in a man from your face; for Yahweh your God, he is God in the heavens from above and over the land from the under.

¹²And now, swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt with you in loyal love, that you also will deal with my father's household in loyal love, and you will give me a sure sign;

¹³that you will let my father live, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sisters, and all who belong to them, and you will deliver our living selves from death.

¹⁴The men said to her: Our being stands in your place to die, if you do not tell this word of ours; and it will be, at Yahweh's giving us the land, that we will deal with you in loyal love and faithfulness.

¹⁵She let them down by a rope through the window; for her house was in the wall of the city wall, and she herself dwelled in the wall.

¹⁶She said to them: Go to the hill country, lest the pursuers fall upon you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers return, and afterward you may go on your way.

¹⁷The men said to her: We are clear of this oath of yours that you made us swear.

¹⁸Look, we are coming into the land: this cord of scarlet thread you shall tie in the window through which you let us down; and your father, your mother, your brothers, and all the household of your father you shall gather to yourself, into the house.

¹⁹And it will be that everyone who goes out from the doors of your house to the outside, his blood will be on his own head, and we are clear; but everyone who is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head, if a hand is on him.

²⁰And if you tell this word of ours, then we will be clear from your oath that you made us swear.

²¹She said: According to your words, so it is. She sent them off, and they went; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²²They went, and they came to the hill country, and dwelled there three days, until the pursuers returned; and the pursuers searched all along the road, and they did not find them.

²³The two men returned, and came down from the hill country, and passed over, and came to Joshua son of Nun, and recounted to him all that had come upon them.

²⁴They said to Joshua: Surely Yahweh has set all the land in our hand, and also all who dwell in the land have melted away before our face.