Rahab and the Scarlet Cord

About this story

What is the red cord in the window? Join Eli, Maya and Mum as they read about Rahab and the two men Joshua secretly sends to look at Jericho. The men come to Rahab’s house in the city wall. When the king sends for them, Rahab hides them under flax on her roof and says they have gone. The retelling clearly names this statement as untrue. Rahab tells the men what she believes about Israel’s God and asks for her family to live. The men make a promise with conditions: keep their mission secret, mark the window with a scarlet cord, and gather her family inside the house when the Israelites come. The men escape by a rope, hide in the hills for three days and return to Joshua. Rahab ties the scarlet cord; the later rescue in Joshua 6 has not happened in this book. Separate fictional garden scenes give Maya space to ask about danger, and Mum makes clear that children can always tell a caring grown-up about anything frightening or unsafe. This 29-page digital edition includes fourteen distinct illustrated story scenes, Bible references, seven questions, My Little Caring Plan, a short prayer and two activities: My Story Window and People I Can Tell. Both activities use paper and crayons with a grown-up. No climbing, fighting, weapon or injury is pictured. Grown-up notes explain the conquest setting, the difficult context of Rahab’s occupation and the conditions of the promise. Preview the story before sharing it and allow time for questions or pauses. The PDF has searchable interior text; the matching fixed-layout EPUB 3 requires a compatible reader and does not resize text separately.