Verse 25 brings the matter to a close, with a summary statement of how and why the lives of Rahab and all her family were spared. Good News Translation and a number of other translations begin this verse with a conjunction equivalent to But in order to make an immediate contrast between the fate of Rahab and her family and the rest of the people of Jericho. Here again it may not be necessary to refer to Rahab as the prostitute; the emotive impact of this upon modern day readers may be quite different from the connotation it carried among the original readers. Because she had hidden the two spies may be better rendered as a complete statement: “Joshua did this because she had hidden the two spies.”

Before giving the reason why (because she hid the Israelite spies), the writer inserts “and she has lived in Israel to this day.” This obviously does not mean that Rahab herself was alive at the time of the writing of the account; it means, as Good News Translation expresses it, Her descendants have lived in Israel to this day. Rahab is usually identified as Rahab the mother of Boaz, and so the great-great-grandmother of King David (Matt 1.5-6; see Ruth 4.18-22; and see also references to her in Heb 11.31; James 2.25). In translating the sentence which Good News Translation places in parentheses, one should be careful not to leave the impression that the writer himself was not an Israelite. For example, one modern translation renders “Her descendants still live today among the Israelites,” from which the reader could assume that the writer is disassociating himself from the people called Israelites. It is probably better also not to introduce the parentheses as Good News Translation has done. If it is felt necessary to separate this statement from what precedes, it can be into a separate paragraph in place of putting it within parentheses.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .