Joshua 2:12

12 And now, I pray you, swear to me by Jehovah, since I have dealt kindly with you, that ye will also deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a certain sign,

Joshua 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 2:12

Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord
Which being a religious action, and done by men that feared the Lord, she knew it would be binding upon them: the Targum is,

``swear to me by the Word of the Lord:''

since I have showed you kindness;
by receiving them with peace into her house, and hiding them when inquired for and demanded of her; in doing which she risked her own, life, had this treachery to her country, as it would have been deemed, been discovered;

that you will also show kindness unto my father's house;
she mentions not herself and household, for if this was granted that would be implied and included; and this she presses for by the law of retaliation and friendship, for since she had shown kindness to them, it was but reasonable it should be returned:

and give me a true token;
that she and her father's house would be saved by them when the city should be taken and the inhabitants destroyed; a token that would not deceive her, on which she might depend, and would be firm and sure.

Joshua 2:12 In-Context

10 For we have heard that Jehovah dried up the waters of the Red sea before you when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

11 We heard [of it], and our heart melted, and there remained no more spirit in any man because of you; for Jehovah your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

12 And now, I pray you, swear to me by Jehovah, since I have dealt kindly with you, that ye will also deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a certain sign,

13 that ye will let my father live, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that belong to them, and deliver our souls from death.

14 And the men said to her, Our lives shall pay for yours, if ye do not make this our business known; and it shall be when Jehovah shall give us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit. 'sign of truth:' see ver. 14.