Joshua 2:7

And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

a. NLT: So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: And the men pursued after them the way to the Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they that pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: And the men have pursued after them the way of the Jordan, by the fords, and the gate they have shut afterwards, when the pursuers have gone out after them. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: So the men pursued them to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone, the city’s gate was shut. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Rubin Edition/ Joshua: So the men pursued them in the direction of the Jordan to the crossings; and they closed the gate shoon after the pursuers had gone out after them. [The Artscroll Series/Rubin Edition The Prophets: Joshua/Judges Copyright 2000 by Mesorah Publication, Ltd.]

1. “And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords…”

a. [And the] men [Strong: 376 'iysh eesh contracted for 582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation):--also, another, any (man), a certain, + champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-)man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), + none, one, people, person, + steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy.]

b. pursued [Strong: 7291 radaph raw-daf' a primitive root; to run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively (of time) gone by):--chase, put to flight, follow (after, on), hunt, (be under) persecute(-ion, -or), pursue(-r).]

c. after [them] [Strong: 310 'achar akh-ar' from 309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses):--after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.]

d. [the] way [Strong: 1870 derek deh'-rek from 1869; a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb:--along, away, because of, + by, conversation, custom, (east-)ward, journey, manner, passenger, through, toward, (high-) (path-)way(-side), whither(-soever).]

e. [to the] Jordan [Strong: 3383 Yarden yar-dane' from 3381; a descender; Jarden, the principal river of Palestine:--Jordan.]

f. unto [Strong: [Strong: 5921 `al al properly, the same as 5920 used as a preposition (in the singular or plural often with prefix, or as conjunction with a particle following); above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications (as follow):--above, according to(-ly), after, (as) against, among, and, X as, at, because of, beside (the rest of), between, beyond the time, X both and, by (reason of), X had the charge of, concerning for, in (that), (forth, out) of, (from) (off), (up-)on, over, than, through(-out), to, touching, X with.]

g. [the] fords [Strong: 4569 ma`abar mah-ab-awr' or feminine mapabarah {mah-ab-aw-raw'}; from 5674; a crossing-place (of a river, a ford; of a mountain, a pass); abstractly, a transit, i.e. (figuratively) overwhelming:--ford, place where...pass, passage.] [Gesenius: a passing over, a place of passing over.] [Websters: A shallow place in a river or stream allowing one to walk or drive across.]

1). It is safe to assume that the reason for the pursuit to Jordan and a shallow place to cross, is that is probably where Rahab had told them that is where they were going, and as we will see, she told the spies to go in the opposite direction to avoid capture. From a Bible Atlas we can speculate that Jericho was about 6 or seven miles from the Jordan River. The king's men took the bait and went off after the spies.The obvious reason to find a ford, a shallow place to cross over is because as the Scripture will declare, this was the harvest season and the Jordan River overflowed its banks during this time (Joshua 3:15).

2. “…and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.”

a. [and] as soon [as] [Strong: 834 'aher ash-er' a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:--X after, X alike, as (soon as), because, X every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), X if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), X though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(- soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.]

b. [they which] pursued [Strong: 7291 radaph raw-daf' a primitive root; to run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively (of time) gone by):--chase, put to flight, follow (after, on), hunt, (be under) persecute(-ion, -or), pursue(-r).]

c. after [them] [Strong: 310 'achar akh-ar' from 309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses):--after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.]

d. [were] gone out [Strong: 3318 yatsa' yaw-tsaw' a primitive root; to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.:--X after, appear, X assuredly, bear out, X begotten, break out, bring forth (out, up), carry out, come (abroad, out, thereat, without), + be condemned, depart(-ing, -ure), draw forth, in the end, escape, exact, fail, fall (out), fetch forth (out), get away (forth, hence, out), (able to, cause to, let) go abroad (forth, on, out), going out, grow, have forth (out), issue out, lay (lie) out, lead out, pluck out, proceed, pull out, put away, be risen, X scarce, send with commandment, shoot forth, spread, spring out, stand out, X still, X surely, take forth (out), at any time, X to (and fro), utter.]

e. [they] shut [Strong: 5462 cagar saw-gar' a primitive root; to shut up; figuratively, to surrender:--close up, deliver (up), give over (up), inclose, X pure, repair, shut (in, self, out, up, up together), stop, X straitly.] 

f. [the] gate [Strong:  8179 sha`ar shah'-ar from 8176 in its original sense; an opening, i.e. door or gate:--city, door, gate, port (X -er).]

g. [Strong: 310 'achar akh-ar' from 309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses):--after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.]

1). As others have written in the past, there was no reason for the kings men to doubt what Rahab had told them so they abruptly left to pursue after the Israelite spies and after they left the city they re-shut the gate.