But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.
Parallel translations
- WEB But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.
- BSB (But Rahab had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had laid out there.)
- NKJV (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.)
- NASB But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.
- NLT (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.)
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
Rahab had hidden the spies on her roof under stalks of flax. She had carefully prepared their concealment in advance.
Overview
The detail of the flax drying on the roof grounds the account in everyday life and shows Rahab's deliberate, calculated protection of the men. Her resourcefulness serves the unfolding purpose of God. This humble Canaanite woman becomes an instrument in advancing Israel's God-given mission, foreshadowing her place among the people of faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Heb 11:23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
- 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?
- 2 Sam 17:19And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.
- Col 3:3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
- Exod 1:15–21And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:
- 1 Kgs 18:4For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
- Matt 24:17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
- Josh 2:8And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
- Exod 2:2And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
- Jer 36:26But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.
- 1 Kgs 18:13Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
- Deut 22:8When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.
- 2 Sam 11:2And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
- 2 Kgs 11:2But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 2:6 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
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