--- title: "Joshua 2 - Study King James Bible with pooles english annotations on the holy bible" description: "Read Joshua 2 with pooles english annotations on the holy bible commentary. 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2" --- [ Read](/kjv/joshua/2)[ Commentary](/study/joshua/2)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/joshua/2) Audio 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.** 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. 3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. 4 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:* 5 And it came to pass *about the time* of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. 6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. 7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. 8 ¶ And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; 9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.* 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that *were* on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard *these things*, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he *is* God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.* 12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: 13 And *that* ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.* 15 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. 16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way. 17 And the men said unto her, We *will be* blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. 18 Behold, *when* we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.* 19 And it shall be, *that* whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood *shall be* upon his head, and we *will be* guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood *shall be* on our head, if *any* hand be upon him. 20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. 21 And she said, According unto your words, so *be* it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window. 22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought *them* throughout all the way, but found *them* not. 23 ¶ So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all *things* that befell them: 24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.* [Joshua 1](/study/joshua/1) [Joshua 3](/study/joshua/3) ## Commentary To verse 1 **Sent**; or, *had sent*, as that tense is oft used. See Poole "[Joshua 1:11](/kjv/joshua/1/11)". **Shittim;**called also *Abel-shittim*, [Numbers 33:49](/kjv/numbers/33/49). **Two men;**not twelve, as Moses did, partly because the people of Canaan were now more alarmed than in Moses’s time, and more suspicious of all strangers; and partly because those were to view the whole land, these but a small parcel of it. **To spy,**i.e. to learn the state of the land and people, and what way and method they should proceed in. It is evident enough that Joshmi did not this out of distrust, as the people did, [Deuteronomy 1:0](/kjv/deuteronomy/1/0); and it is most probable he had God’s command and direction in it, for the encouragement of himself and his army in their present enterprise. **Secretly**; with reference not to his enemies, which being the constant and necessary practice of all spies, was needless to be mentioned; but to the Israelites, without their knowledge or desire. And this seems added by way of opposition unto the like action, [Deuteronomy 1:0](/kjv/deuteronomy/1/0), where it was done with the people’s privity, and upon their motion; and therefore an account was given, not only to Moses, but also to the congregation; whereas here it was given to Joshua only, [Joshua 2:23](/kjv/joshua/2/23), which was a good caution to prevent the inconveniency which possibly might have arisen, if their report had been doubtful or discouraging. **The land, even Jericho,**i.e. the land about Jericho, together with the city. Heb. *the land and Jericho*, i.e. especially Jericho. So *and* is used [2 Samuel 2:30](/kjv/2-samuel/2/30); [1 Kings 11:1](/kjv/1-kings/11/1); [Psalms 18:1](/kjv/psalms/18/1). They obeyed Joshua’s command, even with the hazard of their own lives, considering that they were under the protection of Divine Providence, which could very easily many ways secure them; or being willing to sacrifice their lives in their country’s service. **An harlot’s house;**so the Hebrew word is used, [Judges 11:1](/kjv/judges/11/1); [Judges 16:1](/kjv/judges/16/1); [1 Kings 3:16](/kjv/1-kings/3/16); [Ezekiel 23:44](/kjv/ezekiel/23/44); and so it is rendered by two apostles, [Hebrews 11:31](/kjv/hebrews/11/31); [James 2:25](/kjv/james/2/25); such she either now was, or formerly had been; and such a person’s house they might come to with less observation than to an hostess, as some render it, or to a public victualling-house. And such a course of life was very common among the Gentiles, who esteemed fornication to be either no sin, or a very small and trivial one. **Lodged there,**or, *lay down*, as the same word, is rendered, [Joshua 2:8](/kjv/joshua/2/8), intended and composed themselves to rest; but they were disturbed and hindered from their intentions upon the following discovery. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2","name":"Joshua 2 - Study King James Bible with pooles english annotations on the holy bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/joshua/2#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Joshua 2 with pooles english annotations on the holy bible commentary. 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. 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