Joshua 6

1Now Jericho was shut up tight because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

2Yahweh said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty warriors.

3You are to march around the city, all the men of war, going around the city once. Do this for six days.

4Seven priests are to carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, and the priests are to blow the trumpets.

5When they sound a long blast on the ram’s horn and you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people are to give a great shout. Then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people are to go up, each man straight ahead.”

6So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of Yahweh.”

7He said to the people, “Go forward and march around the city, and let the armed men go ahead of the ark of Yahweh.”

8When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh went forward and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed them.

9The armed men went ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark, while the trumpets kept sounding.

10But Joshua commanded the people, “Do not shout or let your voice be heard, and do not let a word come out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you are to shout.”

11So he had the ark of Yahweh go around the city, circling it once. Then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

12Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh.

13The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of Yahweh went on, blowing the trumpets as they went. The armed men went ahead of them, and the rear guard followed the ark of Yahweh, while the trumpets kept sounding.

14On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

15On the seventh day they got up early, at the break of dawn, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on that day did they march around the city seven times.

16The seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.

17The city and everything in it are to be devoted to Yahweh for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute is to live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers we sent.

18But as for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so that you do not devote them and then take some of what is devoted, and so make the camp of Israel something devoted to destruction and bring trouble on it.

19All the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, are holy to Yahweh. They are to go into the treasury of Yahweh.”

20So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people gave a great shout, and the wall fell down flat. The people went up into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.

21They devoted to destruction everything in the city with the edge of the sword—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

22Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”

23So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out all her relatives and settled them outside the camp of Israel.

24Then they burned the city and everything in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Yahweh.

25But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all who belonged to her. She has lived among the Israelites to this day, because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

26At that time Joshua made them take this oath: “Cursed before Yahweh is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son he will set up its gates.”

27So Yahweh was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.