Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Joshua 2:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Joshua 2:20 contributes this concrete line to the movement: “And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast…”.
Read It With
- Joshua 2:15–21
Read Joshua 2:20 with 2:15–21. Joshua 2:20 advances “The Scarlet Cord Marks the Rescue Agreement” with the textual step “And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast…”. The complete unit establishes this movement: Rahab lowers the spies through her wall-window, advises their escape, and accepts an oath protocol requiring the cord, household gathering, secrecy, and responsibility for violence outside the protected house.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Joshua 2:8-14 ends with this movement: She appeals to reciprocal loyalty and secures a solemn life-for-life pledge. Joshua 2:15-21 begins with this next step: Rahab creates an escape route and a three-day hiding plan. It reaches this outcome: Rahab accepts and immediately ties the scarlet cord. This movement materially develops the book's concern with oath conditions, household vulnerability, visible protection, and restraint against magical or forced typology. At Joshua 2:20, this verse contributes the following distinct step: Joshua 2:20 advances “The Scarlet Cord Marks the Rescue Agreement” with the textual step “And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast…”.
What Remains True
Joshua 2:20 contributes this bounded enduring truth: People navigating lethal and coercive systems retain moral agency, and faithful communities must honor both their testimony and their need for concrete protection.
How It Can Shape Life
- Joshua 2:20 calls readers to this response: Protect vulnerable outsiders without reducing them to a profession, ethnicity, or rescue symbol; keep promises, listen to their account, and preserve their agency. In Joshua 2:15-21, this response specifically addresses oath conditions, household vulnerability, visible protection, and restraint against magical or forced typology.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Joshua 2:15-21 — The Scarlet Cord Marks the Rescue AgreementSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Joshua 2:15-21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Joshua
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clauses, names, repeated roots, boundary formulas, covenant terms, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Josh.xml, 2:15–21
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Joshua with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, textual, translation, list, number, geographical, historical, and cross-reference notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Joshua PDF, printed pp. 422-423, translation and translator notes on 2:15–21
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Joshua
Richard D. Nelson
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, literary boundaries, composition, history and archaeology limits, geography, theology, and material interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: Nelson, 'Joshua,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 160-161, discussion of 2:15–21
Open source ↗