Joshua 2:5-19

⁵They left at sundown, just as the city gate was closing. I've no idea where they went. If you're quick, you can chase after them and maybe catch up with them.”

⁶(She had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under some bundles of flax that she had lying there.)

⁷The king's messengers went chasing after the men down the road that leads to the Jordan River fords. As soon as the pursuers had left, the city gate was shut behind them.

⁸Before the spies went to sleep, Rachel came up to the roof to talk to them.

⁹She told them, “I know that the Lord has given this land to you. We're all terrified of you. Everyone who lives here is dying of fright since you people arrived.

¹⁰We've heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you completely destroyed.

¹¹When we heard all this, our courage melted away. Nobody had any fighting spirit left because of you. For the Lord your God is God of heaven above and the earth below.

¹²So now promise me in the name of the Lord that because I have acted in good faith to you, then you will do the same for my family. Give me some sign that I can trust you,

¹³that you will spare my father and mother and brothers and sisters—and all who are part of their families—that you will save them from death.”

¹⁴“Our lives for yours!” the men told her. “If you don't tell anyone about this, we will treat you honestly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

¹⁵Then she lowered them down by a rope through the window since the house where she lived was built into the outside of the city wall.

¹⁶“Run to the hills,” she told them. “That way those searching for you won't find you. Stay there three days until they've gone home, and then you can be on your way.”

¹⁷The men had told her, “We will be freed from the promise you made us swear,

¹⁸unless when we enter this land, you hang a scarlet cord in the window through which you lowered us. You must gather together in the house your father and mother and brothers—all the family.

¹⁹If anyone leaves your house and is killed, that's their fault—we're not responsible for their death. But if anyone lays a hand on someone who is inside your house, we take full responsibility for their death.