Joshua 2:16

“Go to the hill country,” she said, “so that your pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there for three days until they have returned; then go on your way.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Rahab gives the two Israelite spies immediate instructions to flee into the hills to escape the king’s searching party. She specifies a three-day concealment period before they may resume their journey.

The words — The imperative לֵ֔כוּ (le.khu, “go”) and the future verb נַחְבֵּתֶ֨ם (nach.be.Tem, “you will hide yourselves”) form the core command. The particle פֶּן (pen, “lest”) frames the tactical urgency by warning against the pursuers meeting them.

The thread — The hill country refuge appears again in Joshua 2:22 as the spies execute the order and parallels David’s wilderness flight in 1 Samuel 23:14. Rahab’s compliance is later cited in James 2:25 as the basis for her justification.

Why it lands — The text requires immediate, precise obedience to a time-bound survival strategy. It asks the reader to accept that deliverance is secured through concrete action rather than passive expectation.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַתֹּ֤אמֶרva./To.merand/ she saidלָהֶם֙la./Hemto <the>/ themהָהָ֣רָהha./Ha.ra/hthe/ hill country/ towards לֵּ֔כוּLe.khugo פֶּֽן־pen-lest יִפְגְּע֥וּyif.ge.'Uthey should meetבָכֶ֖םva./Khem<in> <the>/ youהָרֹדְפִ֑יםha./ro.de.Fimthe/ pursuers וְנַחְבֵּתֶ֨םve./nach.be.Temand/ you will hide yourselves שָׁ֜מָּהSha.ma/hthere/ <towards>שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁתshe.Lo.shetthree יָמִ֗יםya.Mimdays עַ֚ד'aduntil שׁ֣וֹבShovreturn הָרֹֽדְפִ֔יםha./ro.de.Fimthe/ pursuers וְאַחַ֖רve./'a.Charand/ after תֵּלְכ֥וּte.le.Khuyou will go לְדַרְכְּכֶֽם׃le./dar.ke./Khemto/ way/ your

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

1 Samuel 23:14 And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.
James 2:25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?
Joshua 2:22 So the spies went out into the hill country and stayed there three days, until their pursuers had returned without finding them, having searched all along the road.
1 Samuel 23:29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.
Psalms 11:1 For the choirmaster. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!