JoshuaChapter 6

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹Now Jericho was shut up tight because of the Israelites. No one went out, and no one came in. ²The LORD said to Joshua, "Look! I have given Jericho to you. I have given you its king and its brave fighting men. ³March around the city with all your fighting men. Go around the city one time. Do this for six days. ⁴Have seven priests carry seven horns made from rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times. Have the priests blow the horns. ⁵When there is a long blast on the ram's horn and you hear it, have all the people give a loud shout. Then the city wall will fall down. All your people will rush straight into the city." ⁶So Joshua son of Nun called the priests. He said, "Pick up the ark of the covenant. Have seven priests carry seven rams' horns in front of the ark of the LORD." ⁷He told the people, "Go! March around the city. Have the armed men go ahead of the ark of the LORD." ⁸So Joshua finished speaking to the people. Then the seven priests carrying the seven rams' horns went forward before the LORD. They blew the horns. The ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. ⁹The horns kept sounding. The armed men marched ahead of the priests who blew the horns. The rear guard followed the ark. ¹⁰But Joshua had given the people this order: "Do not shout a battle cry. Do not let your voice be heard. Do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" ¹¹So Joshua had the ark of the LORD carried around the city one time. Then the people went back to the camp and spent the night there. ¹²Joshua got up early the next morning. The priests picked up the ark of the LORD. ¹³The seven priests carrying the seven rams' horns kept marching ahead of the ark of the LORD. They kept blowing the horns. The armed men went in front of them. The rear guard followed the ark of the LORD. All the while, the horns kept sounding. ¹⁴So on the second day they marched around the city once. Then they went back to the camp. They did this for six days. ¹⁵On the seventh day, they got up at dawn. They marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they went around the city seven times. ¹⁶The seventh time around, the priests blew the horns. Joshua ordered the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷The city and everything in it must be given over to the LORD to be destroyed. Only Rahab the prostitute will live, along with everyone with her in her house. This is because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸But stay away from the things set apart to be destroyed. If you don't, you yourself will be set apart to be destroyed. If you take any of these things, you will put the camp of Israel under that curse. You will bring trouble on it. ¹⁹This is because all the silver and gold and all the things made of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD. They must go into his treasury." ²⁰So the rams' horns were blown, and the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a loud shout. Then the wall fell down. All the people rushed straight into the city and took it. ²¹They destroyed everything in the city with the sword. They gave it all over to the LORD to be destroyed. They killed men and women, young and old. They killed the oxen, sheep, and donkeys. ²²Then Joshua spoke to the two men who had spied out the land. "Go into the prostitute's house," he said. "Bring out the woman and everyone with her, just as you promised her." ²³So the young men who had been spies went in. They brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family. They gave them a place to stay outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴Then the Israelites burned the city and everything in it. But they put the silver and gold and the things made of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house. ²⁵But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute. He spared her father's family and all who belonged to her. He did this because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. She has lived among the Israelites to this day. ²⁶At that time Joshua made this solemn oath: "May the man who rises up to rebuild this city, Jericho, be cursed before the LORD. Laying its foundations will cost him his oldest son. Setting up its gates will cost him his youngest son." ²⁷So the LORD was with Joshua. And people all through the land heard about him.