Home › Glossary › Letter R

Rahab

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A Canaanite woman in the Book of Joshua who sheltered Israelite spies and is later celebrated as a model of faith and inclusion.

Detailed Definition
Rahab’s faith saved her family; she appears in Jesus’ genealogy. In poetry, Rahab embodies redemption from the margins, the subversion of social boundaries by grace, and the courage of unlikely faith in crisis.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Joshua 2, Rahab’s scarlet cord inspires poetry about faith that saves a household; William Blake references Rahab in mythic system as both harlot and heroine; Contemporary feminist verse reclaims Rahab as strategic survivor and insider-outsider; In poems about redemption, Rahab’s window becomes threshold of salvation; Some liturgical works honor Rahab as ancestor of David and Christ (Matthew 1:5); Educational poems cite Rahab to teach about faith and inclusion.
Additional Notes
Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute who shelters Israelite spies (Joshua 2), is spared during Jericho’s fall and included in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1); her faith and courage overturn social and ethnic boundaries; poets use her to explore redemption, hospitality, and the subversion of marginality.
Also Known As
Rahab of Jericho Rahab the Harlot Rahab the Justified Leviathan
Skip to main content