Joshua 2:14

14 They answered her: Be our lives for you unto death, only if thou betray us not. And when the Lord shall have delivered us the land, we will shew thee mercy and truth.

Joshua 2:14 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 2:14

And the men answered her
The two spies:

our life for yours;
or "our souls in your stead to die" F9; that is, we engage for the security of your lives, should they be in danger; we promise to die in your room and stead rather than you should: this they said not as though their lives would be required of them for them, but to assure her of the safety of her and her father's house, on the following condition:

if ye utter not this our business;
not their business in searching the land, for the discovery of that would be of little avail after they were gone; for it was known already that there were persons come to search the land; but "this our word" F11, what they were going to say to her and bid her do, as a sign of safety to her and hers; which, if she discovered, others would give out the same sign, and then they could not promise her safety; or if she did not take care to bring in her father, mother, brethren, and sisters, and theirs into her house, they could not engage to protect them:

and it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land;
not the whole land, but Jericho and the laud about it, that when that part of it should be delivered into their hands:

that we will deal kindly and truly with thee;
"kindly", by sparing her and her father's house; "truly", by faithfully performing the promise and oath they made to her.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (twml Mkytxt wnvpn) "anima nostra pro vobis ad moriendum", Pagninus, Montanus.
F11 (hz wnrbd ta) "verbum nostrum hoc", Pagninus, Montanus; "sermonem nostrum hunc", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius.

Joshua 2:14 In-Context

12 Now, therefore, swear ye to me by the Lord, that as I have shewed mercy to you, so you also will shew mercy to my father’s house: and give me a true token.
13 That you will save my father and mother, my brethren and sisters, and all things that are theirs, and deliver our souls from death.
14 They answered her: Be our lives for you unto death, only if thou betray us not. And when the Lord shall have delivered us the land, we will shew thee mercy and truth.
15 Then she let them down with a cord out of a window: for her house joined close to the wall.
16 And she said to them: Get ye up to the mountains, lest perhaps they meet you as they return: and there lie ye hid three days, till they come back, and so you shall go on your way.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.