Joshua 2:12-16

2:12 So now, promise me this with an oath sworn in the Lord’s name. ¹  Because I have shown allegiance to you, show allegiance to my family. ²  Give me a solemn pledge ³  2:13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us ⁴  from death.” 2:14 The men said to her, “If you ⁵  die, may we die too! ⁶  If you do not report what we’ve been up to, ⁷  then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance ⁸  to you.” ⁹ 

2:15 Then Rahab ¹⁰  let them down by a rope ¹¹  through the window. (Her ¹²  house was built as part of the city wall; she lived in the wall.) ¹³  2:16 She told them, “Head ¹⁴  to the hill country, so the ones chasing you don’t find you. ¹⁵  Hide from them there for three days, long enough for those chasing you ¹⁶  to return. Then you can be on your way.”

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Now, swear to me by the Lord.”

[2:12]  ² tn Heb “with the house of my father.”

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “true sign,” that is, “an inviolable token or pledge.”

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Or “our lives.”

[2:14]  ⁷ tn The second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that Rahab’s entire family is in view.

[2:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “Our lives in return for you to die.” If the lives of Rahab’s family are not spared, then the spies will pay for the broken vow with their own lives.

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “If you do not report this matter of ours.”

[2:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “allegiance and faithfulness.” These virtual synonyms are joined in the translation as “unswerving allegiance” to emphasize the degree of promised loyalty.

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn The second person pronoun is feminine singular, referring specifically to Rahab.

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rahab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:15]  ¹¹ tc The phrase “by a rope” is omitted in the LXX. It may be a later clarifying addition. If original, the omission in the LXX is likely due to an error of homoioarcton. A scribe’s or translator’s eye could have jumped from the initial ב (bet) in the phrase בַּחֶבֶל (bakhevel, “with a rope”) to the initial ב on the immediately following בְּעַד (bÿ’ad, “through”) and accidentally omitted the intervening letters.

[2:15]  ¹² tn Heb “For her house.”

[2:15]  ¹³ tc These explanatory statements are omitted in the LXX and probably represent a later scribal addition.

[2:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “Go.”

[2:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so that the pursuers might not meet you.”

[2:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the pursuers.” The object (“you”) is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.