Joshua 6

¹ Now Jericho had been carefully barricaded against the Israelites; no one came out, no one went in.

² Then Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Now I am delivering Jericho and its king into your hands. All you fighters,

³ valiant warriors, will march round the town and make the circuit once, and for six days you will do the same thing.

⁴ (But seven priests will carry seven trumpets in front of the ark.) On the seventh day you will go seven times round the town (and the priests will blow their trumpets).

⁵ when the ram’s horn rings out (when you hear the sound of the trumpet), the whole people must utter a mighty war cry and the town wall will collapse then and there; then the people can storm the town, each man going straight ahead.’

⁶ Joshua son of Nun (called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and seven priests are to carry seven trumpets of ram’s horn in front of the ark of Yahweh’.

⁷ He) said to the people, ‘Forward! March round the town (and let the vanguard march before the ark of Yahweh).’

⁸ All was done as Joshua ordered the people. (Seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of ram’s horn in front of Yahweh moved onwards and blew their trumpets; the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came behind them,

⁹ the vanguard marched in front of the priests with their trumpets, the rearguard followed behind the ark; the men marched, the trumpets sounded.)

¹⁰ Joshua had given the people the following order: ‘Do not shout, do not utter even a word; let nothing be heard from you till the day when I say: Raise the war cry. Then you are to shout.’

¹¹ (At Joshua’s command, the ark of Yahweh went round the town and made the circuit once; then they returned to the camp and spent the night there.)

¹² Joshua rose early (and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh.

¹³ Bearing the seven ram’s horn trumpets, the seven priests walked before the ark of Yahweh sounding their trumpets as they went, while the vanguard marched before them and the rearguard behind the ark of Yahweh, and the march went on to the sound of the trumpet.)

¹⁴ They marched once round the town (on the second day) and returned to the camp, and so on for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day they rose at dawn and marched seven times round the town in the same manner. Only on that day did they march round seven times.

¹⁶ At the seventh time (the priests blew their trumpets and) Joshua said to the people, ‘Raise the war cry, because Yahweh has given the town into your hands.

¹⁷ ‘The town and everything inside it must be set apart for Yahweh under a ban; only the life of Rahab the harlot is to be spared, with all who are in her house, since she hid the messengers we sent.

¹⁸ But beware of the ban yourselves; do not be covetous and take anything that is under the ban; that would lay the whole camp of Israel open to the same ban and bring disaster on it.

¹⁹ All the silver and all the gold, all the things of bronze and things of iron are consecrated to Yahweh and must be put into his treasury.’

²⁰ The people shouted, the trumpets sounded. When they heard the sound of the trumpet, the people raised a mighty war cry and the wall collapsed then and there. At once the people stormed the town, every man going straight ahead; and they captured the town.

²¹ They enforced the ban on everything in the town: men and women, young and old, even the oxen and sheep and donkeys, massacring them all.

²² Joshua said to the two men who had reconnoitred the country, ‘Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out the woman with all who belong to her, so as to keep your oath to her’.

²³ The young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out all her clansmen too and set them in safety outside the camp of Israel.

²⁴ They burned the town and all within it except the silver and gold and things of bronze and iron; these they put into the treasury of Yahweh’s house.

²⁵ But Rahab the harlot, her father’s household and all who belonged to her, these Joshua spared. She has dwelt among Israel until now, because she concealed the messengers Joshua sent to reconnoitre Jericho.

²⁶ At that time Joshua made them take this oath before Yahweh: ‘Cursed be any man who comes forth and builds this town up again! On his eldest son he shall lay its foundations, on his youngest set up its gates.’

²⁷ Yahweh was with Joshua, and Joshua’s fame spread all through the country.