Joshua 6

Seven Trumpets, and Walls That Fell Without a Blow

← Joshua 5  ·  Joshua: all chapters  ·  Joshua 7 →

The Lord Gives Jericho into Joshua’s Hand

6:1Jericho was shut up and fortified; no one went out of it or entered it.

6:2The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I am handing Jericho and its king within it, mighty in strength, into your power.

6:3Station the fighting men all around it,

6:5and when you sound the trumpet, let all the people cry out together. As they cry out, the city’s walls will fall of themselves, and all the people shall rush into the city, each straight ahead.”

The Order of the Procession

6:6Joshua son of Nun went in to the priests

6:7and said to them, “Instruct the people to go around and encircle the city. Let the fighting men pass armed before the Lord.

6:8Let seven priests holding seven sacred trumpets likewise pass before the Lord and sound them vigorously, and let the ark of the covenant of the Lord follow.

6:9Let the fighting men pass in front, and let the priests forming the rear guard go behind the ark of the covenant of the Lord, marching and blowing trumpets.”

6:10Joshua commanded the people, “Do not cry out, and let no one hear your voice until the day he himself gives the order to cry out. Then you shall cry out.”

6:11After the ark of the covenant of God had gone around the city, it went straight back to the camp and rested there.

Six Days of Circling the City

6:12On the second day Joshua rose in the morning, and the priests lifted up the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

6:13The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went before the Lord. Afterward the fighting men and the rest of the crowd proceeded behind the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The priests sounded the trumpets, and all the rest of the crowd encircled the city close by

6:14and returned to the camp. This was done for six days.

6:15On the seventh day they rose at dawn and went around the city six times.

The Shout, the Ban, and the Fall of the Walls

6:16On the seventh circuit the priests sounded the trumpets, and Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Cry out, for the Lord has handed the city over to you!

6:17The city and everything in it shall be under the ban to the Lord Sabaoth. But preserve Rahab the prostitute and everything in her house.

6:18But guard yourselves carefully from what is under the ban, lest you covet it and take some of it, making the camp of the sons of Israel subject to the ban and destroying us.

6:19All silver, gold, bronze, and iron shall be holy to the Lord and shall be brought into the Lord’s treasury.”

6:20The priests sounded the trumpets. When the people heard their sound, all the people together raised a great, mighty shout. The whole wall fell all around, and all the people went up into the city.

6:21Joshua put the city and everything in it under the ban by the edge of the sword: man and woman, young and old, calf and beast of burden.

Rahab Spared and the City Burned

6:22Joshua said to the two young men who had spied, “Enter the woman’s house and bring her out from there, with everything that belongs to her.”

6:23The two young men who had spied out the city entered the woman’s house and brought out Rahab the prostitute, her father, her mother, her brothers, everything belonging to her, and all her kin. They placed her outside Israel’s camp.

6:24The city was burned with everything in it, except that the silver, gold, bronze, and iron were given to be brought into the Lord’s treasury.

6:25Joshua kept alive Rahab the prostitute and her entire paternal household. She has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the spies Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Joshua’s Oath over Jericho

6:26On that day Joshua pronounced an oath before the Lord: “Cursed is the man who rebuilds that city! At the cost of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates.” Ozan of Bethel did so: at the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest surviving son he set up its gates.

6:27The Lord was with Joshua, and his name was known throughout the land.

← Joshua 5  ·  Joshua: all chapters  ·  Joshua 7 →

Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.