OET OET-RV OET-LV GHT ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Parallel Simple Interlinear Topics Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT ESA WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Jos C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Jos 2 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24
OET (OET-LV) And_they_said to/for_her/it the_men life_of_our is_for_you(pl) to_die if not you(pl)_will_tell DOM business_of_our this and_it_was when_gives YHWH to/for_us DOM the_earth/land and_we_will_do with_you loyalty and_faithfulness.
OET (OET-RV) “Our lives for your lives,” the two men agreed. “If you don’t tell anyone about our agreement, then when Yahweh gives us this land, we’ll show kindness and faithfulness to you.”
Joshua sent two men to look at Jericho, a town in the land of Canaan. A woman of Jericho called Rahab hid the two men so that the king’s soldiers could not find them. She did this because she believed that Yahweh would help the Israelites conquer their land. The men promised Rahab that if she did not betray them, they would rescue her and her family when the Israelites conquered the town. Rahab helped the men escape from Jericho and they hid in the hills for three days. When the soldiers of Jericho stopped looking for them, they returned to Joshua.
Here are some other possible section headings:
The spies went to Jericho
The spies and Rahab
Rahab helped the spies
Rahab asked the spies to spare her and her family. The spies promised to do this if she helped them escape.
“Our lives for your lives!”
“We(dual)(excl) offer our own lives as a guarantee for your lives,”
“We will give up our lives to protect your lives,”
The Hebrew conjunction that some English versions translate as “And” indicates the next event in the story. Use a connecting word that is natural in your language to indicate this. Some English versions, like the BSB, do not translate this connecting word.
Our lives for your lives: The Hebrew clause that the BSB translates as Our lives for your lives is more literally “Our lives instead of you(plur) to die.” The two spies promised to protect Rahab and her family even if it means that they must die themselves.2:14 Dallaire p. 869; Woudstra p. 74.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety (NLT)
We(dual)(excl) will give our lives to protect your lives
the men agreed.
the men said:
the two men answered her.
the men agreed: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
So the two men answered her
The men told her
“If you do not report our mission,
“But you(plur) must not talk about our plans to anyone.
“But you must not tell anyone what we have been doing.
If: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as If introduces the condition on which the Israelites will keep Rahab’s family safe.
you do not report: The Hebrew inflection that the BSB translates as you is second person plural. It refers to Rahab and her family.
our mission: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as mission can refer to any kind of matter or happening. In this context it refers to the men’s exploring the land so that the Israelites could attack it.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
If you do not tell anyone what we have been doing (GNT)
If you do not tell anyone about this matter of ours
we will show you kindness and faithfulness when the LORD gives us the land.”
If you do that, we will treat you(sing) with kindness and faithfulness when Yahweh gives us this land.”
Then we will be loyal and true to you when Yahweh helps us take this land.”
This verse part starts with a Hebrew conjunction that the BSB leaves untranslated. This conjunction introduces result. It explains what the men promised to do if Rahab did what they asked her to do. (They asked her not to tell anybody about them). One way to translate this transition would be as the RSV does:
Then (RSV)
we will show you kindness and faithfulness: The Hebrew sentence that the BSB translates as we will show you kindness and faithfulness is more literally, “we will do with you loyalty and faithfulness.” This phrase describes acts that are done because people have made a covenant, or agreement, between each other. For example, it is used in Genesis 24:27.2:14 Woudstra p. 74.
The term kindness translates the Hebrew word ḥesed that was used in verse 2:12 (12b and 12c). You should translate it the same way in each place. The term faithfulness indicates that the two men would be trustworthy in their relationship with Rahab.
you: The pronoun you is singular. The men referred only to Rahab.
when the LORD gives us the land: The clause when the LORD gives us the land refers to the time when Yahweh will help the Israelites to conquer the land of Canaan.
Here are some other ways to translates this part of the verse:
Then we(excl) will act with kindness and faithfulness towards you(sing) when Yahweh gives us this land.
We will be loyal and true to you when Yahweh helps us to take over the land.
Note 1 topic: writing-oathformula
נַפְשֵׁ֤נוּ תַחְתֵּיכֶם֙ לָמ֔וּת
(Some words not found in UHB: and=they_said to/for=her/it the,men life_of,our [is]_for,you(pl) to,die if not tell DOM business_of,our this and=it_was when,gives YHWH to/for=us DOM the=earth/land and,we_will_do with,you kindly and,faithfulness )
This is an oath formula in which the two spies are promising to give their lives (allow themselves to be killed) if they do not keep their promise and spare the lives of Rahab and her family when the Israelites conquer Jericho and kill its inhabitants. Alternate translation: [If we do not do what we promise, may Yahweh take our lives] or [If you and your family are killed when we conquer Jericho, may Yahweh kill us as well]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular
תַחְתֵּיכֶם֙
(Some words not found in UHB: and=they_said to/for=her/it the,men life_of,our [is]_for,you(pl) to,die if not tell DOM business_of,our this and=it_was when,gives YHWH to/for=us DOM the=earth/land and,we_will_do with,you kindly and,faithfulness )
The word yours is plural and refers to Rahab and her family. Alternate translation: [in place of the lives of you and your family]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
וְעָשִׂ֥ינוּ עִמָּ֖ךְ חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת
(Some words not found in UHB: and=they_said to/for=her/it the,men life_of,our [is]_for,you(pl) to,die if not tell DOM business_of,our this and=it_was when,gives YHWH to/for=us DOM the=earth/land and,we_will_do with,you kindly and,faithfulness )
If your language does not use abstract nouns for the ideas of kindness and faithfulness, you could express the same ideas with adjectives or in some other way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [that we will act kindly and faithfully towards you]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet
וְעָשִׂ֥ינוּ עִמָּ֖ךְ חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת
(Some words not found in UHB: and=they_said to/for=her/it the,men life_of,our [is]_for,you(pl) to,die if not tell DOM business_of,our this and=it_was when,gives YHWH to/for=us DOM the=earth/land and,we_will_do with,you kindly and,faithfulness )
The terms kindness and faithfulness mean similar things. The spies are using the two terms together for emphasis. If it would be clearer for your readers, you could express the emphasis with a single phrase. Alternate translation: [then we will surely deal kindly with you] or [then we will surely act faithfully toward you]
OET (OET-LV) And_they_said to/for_her/it the_men life_of_our is_for_you(pl) to_die if not you(pl)_will_tell DOM business_of_our this and_it_was when_gives YHWH to/for_us DOM the_earth/land and_we_will_do with_you loyalty and_faithfulness.
OET (OET-RV) “Our lives for your lives,” the two men agreed. “If you don’t tell anyone about our agreement, then when Yahweh gives us this land, we’ll show kindness and faithfulness to you.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.