1Now Jericho was shut up tight because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in.
2And Yahweh said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty warriors.
3You shall circle the city, all the men of war, going around the city once. So you shall do for six days.
4And seven priests shall carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets before the ark, and on the seventh day you shall circle the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
5And when the ram’s horn sounds long, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall flat, and the people shall go up, each straight ahead.
6So Joshua son of Nun called to the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets before the ark of Yahweh.”
7And they said to the people, “Pass on and circle the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of Yahweh.”
8And it happened, just as Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests carrying the seven ram’s-horn trumpets before Yahweh passed on and blew the trumpets, while the ark of the covenant of Yahweh went behind them.
9And the armed men went before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard went behind the ark, marching and blowing the trumpets continually.
10But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, and let no word go out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’—then you shall shout.”
11So the ark of Yahweh circled the city, going around it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.
12Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh.
13And the seven priests carrying the seven ram’s-horn trumpets before the ark of Yahweh marched on continually, blowing the trumpets, and the armed men went before them, while the rear guard went behind the ark of Yahweh, marching and blowing the trumpets continually.
14So on the second day they circled the city once and returned to the camp. Thus they did for six days.
15And it happened on the seventh day that they rose early, at the rising of the dawn, and circled the city in this same manner seven times; only on that day did they circle the city seven times.
16And it happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.
17And the city shall be devoted to destruction—it and all that is in it—for Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.
18But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted things, lest you devote yourselves to destruction by taking from the devoted things, and so make the camp of Israel a thing devoted to destruction and bring trouble upon it.
19But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are holy to Yahweh; they shall go into the treasury of Yahweh.
20So the people shouted, and they blew the trumpets. And it happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell flat, and the people went up into the city, each straight ahead, and they captured the city.
21And they devoted to destruction everything that was in the city—from man to woman, from young to old, and ox and sheep and donkey—by the edge of the sword.
22But to the two men who had spied out the land Joshua said, “Go into the house of the prostitute woman, and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”
23So the young men, the spies, went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all who belonged to her; they brought out all her clans and set them outside the camp of Israel.
24And they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it; only the silver and the gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of Yahweh.
25But Rahab the prostitute, and her father’s household, and all who belonged to her, Joshua kept alive; and she has dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26And at that time Joshua swore an oath, saying, “Cursed before Yahweh be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates.”
27So Yahweh was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.
Open in the interactive reader →