1. Joshua 2:19 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the meaning of "his blood shall be on his own head"?

Joshua 2:19 (ESV)

19 Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.

The expression, blood on his own head is an idiom referring to the question of guilt or the failure to keep an oath (Leviticus 20:9; Ezekiel 18:13; Acts 18:6).1 The simple meaning of the phrase is that whoever disobeys the spies’ instruction will be responsible for his own death.2