Bible Strands
Joshua 6:23
So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua commands the two men who previously spied out Jericho to enter Rahab’s house and rescue her family, fulfilling a prior oath. The spies act immediately after the city’s walls fall, relocating the saved household outside the Israelite camp.
The words — הַנְּעָרִים הַמְרַגְּלִים (ha.ne.'a.rim ha.mer.gal.lim) translates literally to “the young men, the spies,” identifying the agents who execute Joshua’s command. וַיּוֹצִיאוּ (va.yo.tzi.'u) means “and they brought out,” marking the physical extraction of Rahab’s kin from the doomed city.
The thread — The rescue of a foreign household parallels Noah’s family preservation in Hebrews 11:7 and echoes the covenantal blessing of nations through Abraham in Genesis 12:2. The narrative also anticipates the divine judgment motif seen in Genesis 18:24, where righteous presence can avert destruction.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that covenant faithfulness operates through concrete obedience and the preservation of specific individuals. It demands an acknowledgment that divine promises are executed in historical action, not abstract theory.
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
King James Version
And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
- Genesis 12:2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
- Genesis 18:24 What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there?
- Numbers 5:2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
- Numbers 31:19 All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives.
- Acts 10:28 He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
- Acts 27:24 and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’
- 1 Corinthians 5:12 What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
- Ephesians 2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
- Genesis 19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.