Joshua
Chapter 2
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Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
A dotted word is a harder one. Point at it, or tap it, for a short definition.
1Joshua son of Nun sent two men from Shittim as spies, quietly, 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.
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- Translation
Ha-Shittim is the place Shittim, the acacia place, as in Numbers. Cheresh is quietly. Zonah is a prostitute.
2It was said to the king of Jericho, saying, Look, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to dig into the land.
3The king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who came to you, who entered your house, for they have come to dig into the whole land.
4The woman took the two men and hid him. She said, Yes, the men came to me, and I did not know where they were from.
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The verb is titzpeno, she hid him, singular, though the line has just named two men. The singular is printed.
5The gate was about to be shut, at dark, and the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Chase after them quickly, and you will overtake them.
6She had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax that she had laid out for herself on the roof.
7The men chased after them on the road of the Jordan, toward the fords. The gate was shut after the pursuers went out after them.
8They had not yet lain down when she came up to them on the roof.
9She said to the men, I know that God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all who live in the land have melted away before you.
10For we heard that God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. dried up the water of the Sea of Reeds before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorite who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you Set apart for God. In this book it is often marked to be destroyed..
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Yam suf is the Sea of Reeds. Hecheramtem is you devoted them, the cherem set apart for destruction.
11We heard, and our heart melted, and no spirit rose in anyone anymore because of you, for God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.
12Now swear to me, please, by God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., that since I have shown you loyalty, you also will show loyalty to my father’s house, and you will give me a reliable sign,
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Chesed is loyalty. Ot emet is a reliable sign.
13and that you will let my father live, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sister, and all who belong to them, and that you will pull our lives out of death.
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The written consonants are אחותי, “my sister,” singular. The Masoretic reading is אחיותי, “my sisters.” The written singular is printed.
14The men said to her, Our lives in place of yours, to the death, if you do not tell this word of ours. When God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. gives us the land, we will show you loyalty and truth.
15She let them down by the rope through the window, for her house was in the side of the wall, and she lived in the wall.
16She said to them, Go to the hill country, or the pursuers will come upon you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers come back, and after that go on your way.
17The men said to her, We are clear of this oath of yours that you have made us swear.
18Look, when we come into the land, you shall tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.
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Tiqvat chut ha-shani is a cord of scarlet thread. Tiqvah here is the cord. The same consonants are the word hope.
19Anyone who goes out of the doors of your house to the outside, his blood is on his own head, and we are clear. Anyone who is with you in the house, his blood is on our head if a hand is laid on him.
20If you tell this word of ours, we will be clear of your oath that you made us swear.
21She said, As you have said, so it is. She sent them off, and they went, and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
22They went and came to the hill country and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers searched the whole road and did not find them.
23The two men returned, came down from the hill country, crossed, and came to Joshua son of Nun. They told him everything that had met them.
24They said to Joshua, God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. has given the whole land into our hand. All who live in the land have melted away before us as well.