Chapter 6

¹Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. ²Yahweh said to Joshua, Behold, I have given into your hand Jericho, and the king of it, and the mighty men of valor. ³You shall compass the city, all the men of war, going about the city once. Thus shall you do six days. ⁴Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark: and the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him. ⁶Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh. ⁷They said to the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of Yahweh. ⁸It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh passed on, and blew the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed them. ⁹The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rearward went after the ark, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went. ¹⁰Joshua commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall you shout. ¹¹So he caused the ark of Yahweh to compass the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. ¹²Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh. ¹³The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; and the rearward came after the ark of Yahweh, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went. ¹⁴The second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days. ¹⁵It happened on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on the day they compassed the city seven times. ¹⁶It happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout; for Yahweh has given you the city. ¹⁷The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is therein, to Yahweh: only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. ¹⁹But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to Yahweh: they shall come into the treasury of Yahweh. ²⁰So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and it happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. ²¹They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword. ²²Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring out there the woman, and all that she has, as you swore to her. ²³The young men the spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had; all her relatives also they brought out; and they set them outside of the camp of Israel. ²⁴They burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Yahweh. ²⁵But Rahab the prostitute, and her father’s household, and all that she had, did Joshua save alive; and she lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. ²⁶Joshua charged them with an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Yahweh, that rises up and builds this city Jericho: with the loss of his firstborn shall he lay the foundation of it, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. ²⁷So Yahweh was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.