CHAPTER 6
And the LORD
said
to
Joshua,
“Behold,
I have delivered
Jericho
and
its king
and fighting men
into your hands.
Have seven
priests
carry
seven
trumpets
of rams' horns
in front
of the ark.
Then on the seventh
day,
march around
the city
seven
times,
while the priests
blow
the trumpets.
And when
there is a long blast
of the ram's
horn
and you hear
its
sound,
have all
the people
give a mighty
shout.
Then the wall
of the city
will collapse,
and the people
will go up,
each man
straight ahead.”
So Joshua
son
of Nun
summoned
the priests
and said,
“Take up
the ark
of the covenant
and have seven
priests
carry
seven
trumpets
in front
of the ark
of the LORD.”
And
he told
the people,
“Advance
and march around
the city,
with the armed
troops
going ahead of
the ark
of the LORD.”
After Joshua
had spoken
to
the people,
seven
priests
carrying
seven
trumpets
before
the LORD
advanced
and blew
the trumpets,
and the ark
of the covenant
of the LORD
followed
them.
While the trumpets
continued to sound,
the armed troops
marched
ahead
of the priests
who blew
the trumpets,
and the rear guard
followed
the ark.
But Joshua
had commanded
the people:
“Do not
give a battle cry
or let your voice
be heard;
do not
let one word
come out
of your mouth
until
the day
I tell
you
to shout.
Then you are to shout!”
So he had the ark
of the LORD
carried around
the city,
circling
it once.
And the people returned
to the camp
and spent the night there.
And the seven
priests
carrying
seven
trumpets
kept marching
ahead
of the ark
of the LORD
and sounding
the trumpets.
The armed troops
went
in front of them,
and the rear guard
followed
the ark
of the LORD,
while the priests kept
sounding
the trumpets.
So on the second
day
they marched around
the city
once
and returned
to the camp.
They did
this
for six
days.
Then
on the seventh
day,
they got up
at dawn
and marched around
the city
seven
times
in the same
manner.
That
was the only
day
they circled
the city
seven
times.
After the seventh
time around,
the priests
blew
the trumpets,
and Joshua
commanded
the people,
“Shout!
For
the LORD
has given
you the city!
Now the city
and everything
in it
must be
devoted
to the LORD.
Only
Rahab
the prostitute
and all those
with her
in her house
will live,
because
she hid
the spies
we sent.
But
keep away
from
the devoted things,
lest
you yourself be set apart for destruction
If you take
any of
these,
you will set
apart the camp
of Israel
for destruction
and bring disaster upon it.
For all
the silver
and gold
and all the articles
of bronze
and iron
are holy
to the LORD;
they must go into
His
treasury.”
So when the trumpets
sounded,
the people
shouted.
When they
heard
the blast
of the trumpet,
the people
gave a great
shout,
and the wall
collapsed.
The people
charged
into the city,
each man
straight ahead,
and captured
the city.
At the edge
of the sword
they utterly destroyed
everything
in the city—
man
and woman,
young
and
old,
oxen,
sheep,
and donkeys.
Meanwhile, Joshua
told
the two
men
who had spied out
the land,
“Go into
the house
of the prostitute
and bring out
the woman
and all
who are with her,
just as
you promised her.”
So the young
spies
went in
and brought out
Rahab,
her father
and
mother
and
brothers,
and all
who belonged to her.
They brought out
her whole
family
and settled them
outside
the camp
of Israel.
Then the Israelites burned up
the city
and everything in it.
However,
they put
the silver
and gold
and articles
of bronze
and iron
into the treasury
of the LORD’s
house.
And
Joshua
spared
Rahab
the prostitute,
with
her father’s
household
and all
who belonged to her,
because
she hid
the men
Joshua
had sent
to spy out
Jericho.
So she has lived
among
the Israelites
to
this
day.
At that
time
Joshua
invoked this solemn oath:
“Cursed
before
the LORD
is the man
who
rises up
and rebuilds
this
city,
Jericho;
at the cost of his firstborn
he will lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
he will set up
its gates."