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THE MESSAGE

Joshua 2:4

The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn't know where they'd come from. At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!" (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) So the men set chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Armies;   Falsehood;   Harlot (Prostitute);   Hospitality;   Reconnoissance;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Home;   Lying, Examples of;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Stories for Children;   Truth-Falsehood;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Rahab;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Lie, Lying;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Rahab;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Architecture in the Biblical Period;   Joshua, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hoshea;   Jericho;   Joshua;   Rahab;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jericho;   Rahab, Rachab ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Jericho;   Rahab;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Shittim;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Jer'icho;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from.
Hebrew Names Version
The woman took the two men, and hid them; and she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I didn't know whence they were:
King James Version
And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
Lexham English Bible
But the woman took the two men and hid them. And she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
English Standard Version
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, "True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
New Century Version
But the woman had hidden the two men. She said, "They did come here, but I didn't know where they came from.
New English Translation
But the woman hid the two men and replied, "Yes, these men were clients of mine, but I didn't know where they came from.
Amplified Bible
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them; so she said, "Yes, two men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
New American Standard Bible
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
Geneva Bible (1587)
(But ye woman had taken the two men, and hid them) Therefore saide she thus, There came men vnto me, but I wist not whence they were.
Legacy Standard Bible
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
Complete Jewish Bible
However, the woman, after taking the two men and hiding them, replied, "Yes, the men did come to me; but I didn't know where they had come from.
Darby Translation
And the woman had taken and concealed the two men; and she said, Yes, the men did come unto me, but I knew not whence they were;
Easy-to-Read Version
Rahab had hidden the two men, but she said, "They did come here, but I didn't know where they came from.
George Lamsa Translation
And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said, Truly the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from;
Good News Translation
"Some men did come to my house," she answered, "but I don't know where they were from. They left at sundown before the city gate was closed. I didn't find out where they were going, but if you start after them quickly, you can catch them." (Now Rahab had taken the two spies up on the roof and hidden them under some stalks of flax that she had put there.)
Literal Translation
And the woman took the two men and hid them, and said, This way the men came in to me, but I did not know from where they were.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now as for the two men, the woman had hyd them, and sayde: There came men in vnto me in dede, but I knewe not whence they were.
American Standard Version
And the woman took the two men, and hid them; and she said, Yea, the men came unto me, but I knew not whence they were:
Bible in Basic English
And the woman took the two men and put them in a secret place; then she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I had no idea where they came from;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the woman toke the two men and hyd them, and sayd thus: In deede there came men vnto me, but I wiste not whence they were.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the woman took the two men, and hid them; and she said: 'Yea, the men came unto me, but I knew not whence they were;
King James Version (1611)
And the woman tooke the two men, and hid them, & said thus: There came men vnto mee, but I wist not whence they were:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the woman took the two men and hid them; and she spoke to the messengers, saying, The men came in to me,
English Revised Version
And the woman took the two men, and hid them; and she said, Yea, the men came unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
Berean Standard Bible
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.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the womman took the men, and hidde hem, and seide, Y knowleche, thei camen to me, but Y wiste not of whenus thei weren;
Young's Literal Translation
And the woman taketh the two men, and hideth them, and saith thus: `The men came in unto me, and I have not known whence they [are];
Update Bible Version
And the woman took the two men. And she hid it, and she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I didn't know from where they were:
Webster's Bible Translation
And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men to me, but I knew not whence they [were]:
World English Bible
The woman took the two men, and hid them; and she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I didn't know whence they were:
New King James Version
Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
New Living Translation
Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, "Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn't know where they were from.
New Life Bible
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me. But I did not know where they were from.
New Revised Standard
But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, "True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the woman took the two men and hid them, - and said: Even so, the men did come in unto me, but I knew not from whence they were;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the woman taking the men, hid them, and said: I confess they came to me, but I knew not whence they were:
Revised Standard Version
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them; and she said, "True, men came to me, but I did not know where they came from;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.

Contextual Overview

1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: "Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho." They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, "We've just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They're from the People of Israel." 3 The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They're spies; they've come to spy out the whole country." 4The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn't know where they'd come from. At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!" (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) So the men set chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 1:19, 2 Samuel 16:18, 2 Samuel 16:19, 2 Samuel 17:19, 2 Samuel 17:20, 2 Kings 6:19

Reciprocal: Exodus 34:29 - wist Joshua 6:17 - because 1 Samuel 27:10 - And David 2 Samuel 17:17 - stayed Hebrews 11:31 - she had

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
Genesis 1:31
God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six.
Genesis 2:1
Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail.
Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done. This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.
Genesis 5:1
This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.
Genesis 10:1
This is the family tree of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, they themselves had sons.
Genesis 11:10
This is the story of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he had Arphaxad. It was two years after the flood. After he had Arphaxad, he lived 500 more years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 25:12
This is the family tree of Ishmael son of Abraham, the son that Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maid, bore to Abraham.
Genesis 25:19
This is the family tree of Isaac son of Abraham: Abraham had Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan Aram. She was the sister of Laban the Aramean.
Genesis 36:1
This is the family tree of Esau, who is also called Edom.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the woman took the two men,.... Or "she had taken" them z before the messengers came, upon a rumour she understood was gone abroad, that she had got Israelitish spies in her house, and so might expect to be visited and searched by the king's officers, and therefore took this precaution:

and hid them; the Hebrew word is singular, "him" a: hence the Jews, who take these two spies to be Caleb and Phinehas, say, that only Caleb was hid, and Phinehas, though he was before them, was not seen, being an angel, Malachi 2:7; but the sense is, that she hid each of them, and very probably singly and apart, that if one was found, the other might escape, as Ben Gersom observes; and Abarbinel is of opinion that she hid them twice, now in the middle of her house, one in one place, and the other in another, for the reason before given, and after this hid them in the roof of her house, as afterwards related:

and said thus, there came men unto me; that is, into her house, this she owned:

but I wist not whence they [were]; of what country they were, whether Israelites or not; which whether she knew or not is not certain; it is probable she did, and told an untruth, as she also did in Joshua 2:5.

z ותפח "duxerat, tulerat"; so Syr. Ar. Kimchi, Ben Melech. a ותצפנו "et abscondit eum", Montanus "abdiderat eum", Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I wist not whence they were - Rahab acted as she did from the belief in God’s declared word, and conviction that resistance to His will would be both vain and wicked Joshua 2:9-11. Thus, she manifested a faith both sound and practical, and is praised accordingly Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25. The falsehood to which she had recourse may be excused by the pressure of circumstances and by her own antecedents, but cannot be defended.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 2:4. And hid them — Probably she secreted them for the time being in some private corner, till she had the opportunity of concealing them on the house-top in the manner mentioned Joshua 2:6.


 
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