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Joshua 6:25

in Joshua 6

And Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. So she has lived among the Israelites to this day.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But Rahab the harlot, and her father’s household, and all that she had, did Joshua save alive; and she dwelt in the midst of Israel unto this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

KJV

And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

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This verse in Joshua 6

Commentary

11 notes on this verse
Even unto this day - These words are rightly noted as implying that the narrative was written not long after the occurrences which it records.

This site's exposition

Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it

on Joshua 6:24-25

The words “she has lived among the Israelites to this day” show the account was written while her family were still known. Henry, Gill and many after them read the scarlet cord as a figure of the blood, a link the New Testament does not make.

This site's exposition

Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute

Wesley reads her rescue as showing that the order to root out the Canaanites carried an exception for any who cast off their wickedness. Clarke takes to this day as evidence that the book could have come from Joshua's hand. He allows later notes may have crept into the text.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 7.5 · Written before 253.

proposed

But the woman Rahab, how is she said to be joined to the house of Israel up to this very day? Is a succession of posterity on her mother's side ascribed so that she is considered to be preserved in a renewal of offspring? Or rather must it be understood that she has really been bound and united to Israel up to this very day? If you want to see more plainly how Rahab is bound to Israel, consider how "the branch of the wild olive tree is implanted in the root of a good olive tree." Then you will understand how those who have been implanted in the faith of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are rightly called attached and "joined to Israel up to this very day." For we have been attached up to this very day in the root of those former ones, we, the branches of the wild olive taken up from the nations, who at one time were dealing with harlots and worshiping wood and stone instead of the true God.

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.4 · Written before 253.

proposed

Therefore, our Lord Jesus will come, and he will come with the sound of trumpets. But just now let us pray that he may come and destroy "the world that lay in wickedness" and all things that are in the world, because "everything that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes." May he destroy that, may he dissolve it again and again, and save only this one who received his spies and who placed his apostles, received with faith and obedience, in the high places.

A commentator

Jerome

HOMILY ON THE EXODUS 91 · Written before 420.

proposed

Let us prepare ourselves for the sacrifice of the lamb.… Nor let us be under the impression that this yearling lamb can be eaten anywhere.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

The harlot olive - For that general command of rooting out the Canaanites seems to have had some exception, in case any of them had sincerely and seasonably cast off their wickedness, and submitted to the Israelites.
And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive,.... From perishing by the sword, as the rest of the inhabitants did.
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

The Lord divided the Jordan that His people might pass through dry-shod. This miracle greatly dispirited the Canaanites, and so prepared the way for an easy triumph for the invading Israelites. You would have naturally expected that the Lord would have bid His people avail themselves immediately of this terror to strike a heavy blow at once, and press on with might and main before the enemy could take a breath and so sweep the land clear of the adversaries in a single campaign. But it was not so.
The Lord divided the Jordan that His people might pass through dry-shod. This miracle greatly dispirited the Canaanites, and so prepared the way for an easy triumph for the invading Israelites. You would have naturally expected that the Lord would have bid His people avail themselves immediately of this terror to strike a heavy blow at once, and press on with might and main before the enemy could take a breath and so sweep the land clear of the adversaries in a single campaign. But it was not so. Instead of immediate activity, the children of Israel pitched their tents at Gilgal and there tarried for a considerable season. For God is in no hurry. His purposes can be accomplished without haste, and though He would have us redeem the time because our days are evil, yet in His eternity He can afford to wait and by His wisdom He so orders His delays that they prove to be far better than our hurries. Why were the people to delay? That they might be obedient to commands which had been forgotten. In the desert, for many reasons, circumcision and the Passover had been neglected. They were not visited with any chastisement on account of this neglect, for the Lord considered their position and condition, and winked at their error. But before He would use them He would have them fully obedient to His will. It cannot be expected that God should tolerate disobedient servants, and therefore they must stay awhile, till they had been attentive to the two great precepts of the Mosaic Covenant. Dear Friends, let us pause and ask ourselves, as Believers, whether we have been in all respects conscientiously attentive to our Master's commands. If not, we may not expect Him to send a blessing to the Church or to the world through us, until first of all we have yielded our willing obedience to that which He has prescribed for us.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

And she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day - This is one proof that the book was written in the time to which it is commonly referred; and certainly might have been done by the hand of Joshua himself, though doubtless many marginal notes may have since crept into the text, which, to superficial observers, give it the appearance of having been written after the days of Joshua. See the preface to this book.

The words behind it

28 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְֽאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • רָחָ֣בRahab

    rachavH7343 →5 times

  • הַ֠זּוֹנָהthe prostitute

    hazonahH2181 →94 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • בֵּ֨ית[the] household of

    beitH1004 →2046 times

  • אָבִ֤יהָfather her

    ʾavihaH1 →1212 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־every

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־[one] who

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • לָהּ֙[belonged] to <the> her

    lah

  • הֶחֱיָ֣הhe let live

    hecheyahH2421 →282 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֔עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • וַתֵּ֙שֶׁב֙and she has dwelt

    vateshevH3427 →1079 times

  • בְּקֶ֣רֶבin [the] midst of

    bekerevH7130 →227 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • עַ֖דuntil

    ʾadH5704 →1261 times

  • הַיּ֣וֹםthe day

    haiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • הַזֶּ֑ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • כִּ֤יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • הֶחְבִּ֙יאָה֙she hid

    hechbiahH2244 →33 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמַּלְאָכִ֔יםthe messengers

    hamalakhimH4397 →213 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־whom

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • שָׁלַ֥חhe had sent

    shalachH7971 →845 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • לְרַגֵּ֥לto spy out

    leragelH7270 →25 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • יְרִיחֽוֹ׃ פJericho

    yerichoH3405 →57 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Hebrews 11:31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.8 worksJames 2:25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?5 worksJoshua 2:6(But Rahab had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had laid out there.)5 worksJudges 1:24–25and when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us how to get into the city, and we will treat you kindly.”5 worksMatthew 1:5Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,5 worksActs 2:21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’4 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Joshua 11:19–20No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; all others were taken in battle.3 worksJoshua 4:9Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.3 worksJoshua 2:14“Our lives for your lives!” the men agreed. “If you do not report our mission, we will show you kindness and faithfulness when the LORD gives us the land.”2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Hebrews 11:31

    By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

    it leads to

    • James 2:25

      In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 1:5

      Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

  • Through

    James 2:25

    In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?

    it leads to

    • Joshua 6:22–25

      Meanwhile, Joshua told the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and all who are with her, just as you promised…

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Hebrews 11:31

      By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Joshua 2:19–21

      If anyone goes out the door of your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be innocent. But if a hand is laid on anyone with…

    • Joshua 2:4

      But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

    • Joshua 2:15

      Then Rahab let them down by a rope through the window, since the house where she lived was built into the wall of the city.

  • Through

    Matthew 1:5

    Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

    it leads to

    • Ruth 1:16–17

      But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be…

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 6 →
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 795: “Joshua's Vision” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jerome, HOMILY ON THE EXODUS 91; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 7.5 and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.4.

Read on in Joshua 6 →