By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Parallel translations
- WEB By faith, Rahab the prostitute, didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.
- BSB By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.
- NKJV By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
- NASB By faith the prostitute Rahab did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
- NLT It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the Israelite spies and so was spared when the disobedient perished. Faith receives God's people and finds mercy, even for an outsider with a sinful past.
Overview
Joshua 2 and 6 tell how Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute, hid the spies because she believed in Israel's God, and was saved when Jericho fell. Her faith, shown in welcoming God's messengers, set her apart from the "disobedient." A Gentile and a sinner brought into God's people, she appears in the line of Christ (Matthew 1:5), displaying the reach of saving grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jas 2:25Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
- Josh 6:22–25But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
- Matt 1:5And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
- Josh 2:1–24And 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.
- Matt 1:1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
- Josh 1:1Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
- 1 Pet 3:20Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
- 1 Pet 2:8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
- Heb 3:18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 11:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.