Joshua
Chapter 6
1 Jericho was tightly closed because of the Israelites: no one could leave or enter.
2 God said to Joshua, “Look, I have given you the city of Jericho, its king, and its brave warriors.”
3 You will march around the city, all you soldiers, circling the city one time. Do this for six days.
4 Seven priests will carry seven ram’s horn trumpets in front of the ark, and on the seventh day, you will march around the city seven times while the priests blow the trumpets.
5 When they blow the ram’s horn for a long time, and you hear the trumpet, everyone must shout loudly. Then the city wall will collapse, and the people will go straight into the city.
6 Joshua, Nun’s son, told the priests to carry the covenant box and have seven priests walk in front with seven ram’s horn trumpets ahead of God’s box.
7 He told the people, “Move on, go around the city, and let the armed men go ahead of the Ark of God.”
8 After Joshua talked to the people, seven priests with seven ram’s horn trumpets walked ahead of God and blew their trumpets, and God’s covenant box came behind them.
9 The soldiers walked ahead of the priests with the trumpets, and the guards followed behind the sacred chest, while the priests kept walking and playing the trumpets.
10 Joshua told the people, “Do not shout or make any noise with your voice, and do not speak until the day I tell you to shout; then you should shout.”
11 So the ark of God went around the city once, then they returned to the camp and stayed there.
12 Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of God.
13 Seven priests with seven trumpets made from ram’s horns walked ahead of God’s ark. They kept blowing the trumpets. Soldiers marched in front, while the rear guard followed after God’s ark, as the priests continued to blow the trumpets.
14 On the second day, they walked around the city one time and then went back to their camp. They did this for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at dawn and walked around the city in the same way seven times, but on that day they walked around the city seven times.
16 On the seventh time, when the priests played the trumpets, Joshua told the people, “Shout, because God has given you the city.”
17 The city will be cursed, everything in it for God, but Rahab the prostitute will survive, her and everyone with her in her home, because she hid the spies we sent.
18 Be sure to stay away from the cursed things, so you don’t become cursed by taking them and bring trouble to the camp of Israel.
19 All the silver, gold, and items made of brass and iron are holy to God: they must go into God’s treasury.
20 When the priests blew the trumpets, the people yelled. And when the people heard the trumpet and yelled loudly, the wall collapsed. So they all went into the city, straight ahead, and captured it.
21 They completely destroyed everything in the city, men, women, children, seniors, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with their swords.
22 Joshua told the two men who explored the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and take out the woman and everything she owns, just as you promised her.”
23 The young spies went in, took Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and everything she owned, brought out all her family, and left them outside Israel’s camp.
24 They set the city on fire, burning everything in it, but they saved the silver, gold, and bronze and iron objects to put in God’s house treasury.
25 Joshua kept Rahab the prostitute and her family safe, along with everything she owned; she lives in Israel to this day because she hid the spies Joshua sent to Jericho.
26 Joshua warned them, saying, “God will curse anyone who rebuilds the city of Jericho. He will lose his oldest son when he lays the foundations, and his youngest son when he sets up the gates.”
27 God was with Joshua, and his reputation spread across the whole land.