Joshua 6:1-27
6 Now Jerʹi·cho was tightly shut up because of the sons of Israel, no one going out and no one entering.+
2 And Jehovah went on to say to Joshua: “See, I have given Jerʹi·cho and its king, the valiant mighty men, into your hand.+
3 And all YOU men of war must march round the city, going round* the city once. That is the way you should do for six days.
4 And seven priests should carry seven rams’ horns, before the Ark, and on the seventh day YOU should march round the city seven times and the priests should blow the horns.+
5 And it must occur that when they sound with the horn of the ram, when YOU hear the sound of the horn,* all the people should shout a great war cry;+ and the wall of the city must fall down flat,+ and the people must go up, each one straight before him.”
6 Accordingly Joshua the son of Nun called the priests+ and said to them: “Take up the ark of the covenant,+ and seven priests should carry seven rams’ horns before the ark+ of Jehovah.”
7 And he* went on to say to the people: “Pass on and march round the city, and the war-equipped force+ should pass on ahead of the ark of Jehovah.”
8 So it came about just as Joshua said to the people; and seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns before Jehovah passed on and blew the horns, and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah was following them.
9 And the war-equipped force was going ahead of the priests blowing the horns, while the rear guard+ was following the Ark with a continual blowing* on the horns.
10 Now Joshua had commanded the people,+ saying: “YOU must neither shout nor let YOUR voices be heard, and no word should come out of YOUR mouths until the day when I say to YOU, ‘Shout!’ Then YOU must shout.”+
11 And he had the ark of Jehovah go marching round the city, going round once, after which they went to the camp and stayed overnight in the camp.
12 Then Joshua got up early in the morning,+ and the priests went carrying the ark+ of Jehovah,
13 and seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns before the ark of Jehovah were walking, continually blowing the horns, and the war-equipped force was walking ahead of them, while the rear guard was following the ark of Jehovah with a continual blowing on the horns.+
14 And they went marching round the city on the second day once, after which they returned to the camp. That was the way they did for six days.+
15 And it came about on the seventh day that they proceeded to get up early, as soon as the dawn ascended, and they went marching round the city in this manner seven times. Just on that day they marched round the city seven times.+
16 And it came about on the seventh time that the priests blew the horns, and Joshua proceeded to say to the people: “Shout;+ for Jehovah has given YOU the city.+
17 And the city must become a thing devoted to destruction;*+ it with everything that is in it belongs to Jehovah. Only Raʹhab+ the prostitute may keep on living, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers whom we sent out.+
18 As for YOU people, only keep away from the thing devoted to destruction,+ for fear YOU may get a desire*+ and YOU do take some of the thing devoted to destruction+ and do constitute the camp of Israel a thing devoted to destruction and bring ostracism upon it.+
19 But all the silver and the gold and the articles of copper and iron are something holy to Jehovah.+ Into the treasure of Jehovah it should go.”+
20 Then the people shouted, when they proceeded to blow the horns.+ And it came about that as soon as the people heard the sound of the horn and the people began to shout a great war cry, then the wall began to fall down flat.+ After that the people went up into the city, each one straight before him, and captured the city.
21 And they went devoting all that was in the city, from man to woman, from young man to old man and to bull and sheep and ass, to destruction by the edge of the sword.+
22 And to the two men who had done the spying on the land, Joshua said: “Go into the house of the woman, the prostitute, and bring out of there the woman and all who belong to her, just as YOU have sworn to her.”+
23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Raʹhab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all who belonged to her, yes, all her family relationship they brought out;+ and they proceeded to set them down outside the camp of Israel.
24 And they burned the city with fire and everything that was in it.+ Only the silver and the gold and the articles of copper and iron they gave to the treasure of Jehovah’s house.+
25 And Raʹhab the prostitute and the household of her father and all who belonged to her, Joshua preserved alive;+ and she dwells in the midst of Israel down to this day,+ because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent out to spy on Jerʹi·cho.+
26 Then Joshua had an oath pronounced at that particular time, saying: “Cursed may the man be before Jehovah who gets up and does build this city, even Jerʹi·cho. At the forfeit of his firstborn let him lay the foundation of it, and at the forfeit of his youngest let him put up its doors.”+
27 So Jehovah proved to be with Joshua,+ and his fame came to be in all the earth.+
Footnotes
^ “Going round.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time.
^ Or, “the shofar.” Heb., hash·shoh·pharʹ.
^ “He,” TSyVg; M, “they.”
^ “With a continual blowing.” In Heb. these words are two verbs in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time.
^ Or, “a doomed thing.”
^ “For fear you may get a desire,” in harmony with LXX, which reads: “that, setting your mind on [it], (you yourselves may not take)”; M, “for fear you may devote [it] to destruction.”
