Joshua 2:15
in Joshua 2Then Rahab let them down by a rope through the window, since the house where she lived was built into the wall of the city.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the side of the wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
KJV
Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
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This verse in Joshua 2
Commentary
2 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Upon the town wall - The town wall probably formed the back wall of the house, and the window opened therefore into the country. (Compare Paul’s escape, 2Co 11:33).
This site's exposition
house was upon the town
on Joshua 2:15-16
The window opens on open country because the back wall of the house is the town wall, and Albert Barnes sets Paul's escape at 2 Corinthians 11:33 beside it, let down by the wall in a basket. A house built into the wall is what readers weigh against Joshua 6:20, where the wall falls down flat, since 6:22-23 has the spies fetching her out of a house still standing; some writers hold that her stretch of wall was left and others that the collapse was not uniform, and the text offers no explanation of its own. Then she tells them which way to run and how long to lie still, which is local knowledge two strangers did not have.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Then she lowered them down with the rope. With the same rope and through the same window her admirers would use to come up to her. She said: “Master of the World with these I have sinned, with these forgive me.”
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Until the pursuers return. 16 How could she possibly have known that the pursuers would be coming back after three days? She must have had Divine inspiration to know they would return after three days.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתּוֹרִדֵ֥ם | vatoridem | and she let down them | H3381 → | 381 times |
| בַּחֶ֖בֶל | bachevel | with <the> rope | H2256 → | 62 times |
| בְּעַ֣ד | bead | through | H1157 → | |
| הַֽחַלּ֑וֹן | hachalon | the window | H2474 → | 31 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| בֵיתָהּ֙ | veitah | house her | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| בְּקִ֣יר | bekir | [was] in [the] wall of | H7023 → | |
| הַֽחוֹמָ֔ה | hachomah | the city wall | H2346 → | 133 times |
| וּבַֽחוֹמָ֖ה | uvachomah | and in the city wall | H2346 → | 133 times |
| הִ֥יא | hi' | she | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| יוֹשָֽׁבֶת׃ | yoshavet | [was] dwelling | H3427 → | 1079 times |
וַתּוֹרִדֵ֥םand she let down them
vatoridemH3381 →381 times
בַּחֶ֖בֶלwith <the> rope
bachevelH2256 →62 times
בְּעַ֣דthrough
beadH1157 →
הַֽחַלּ֑וֹןthe window
hachalonH2474 →31 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
בֵיתָהּ֙house her
veitahH1004 →2046 times
בְּקִ֣יר[was] in [the] wall of
bekirH7023 →
הַֽחוֹמָ֔הthe city wall
hachomahH2346 →133 times
וּבַֽחוֹמָ֖הand in the city wall
uvachomahH2346 →133 times
הִ֥יאshe
hi'H1931 →1879 times
יוֹשָֽׁבֶת׃[was] dwelling
yoshavetH3427 →1079 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joshua 6:20So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into…
it leads to
- Hebrews 11:30
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4–5
The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
- Joshua 6:5
And when there is a long blast of the ram’s horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse and all…
- Hebrews 11:30
Through
Acts 9:25One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 11:33
But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
- 1 Samuel 19:11–12
Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will…
- 2 Corinthians 11:33
Through
2 Corinthians 11:33But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
it leads to
- Acts 9:25
One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.
- 1 Samuel 19:12
So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.
- Joshua 2:18
unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother and brothers and all…
- Acts 9:25
Where this verse is studied
About Joshua
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth.