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12-14 Early the next morning, Joshua and everyone else started marching around Jericho in the same order as the day before. One group of soldiers was in front, followed by the seven priests with trumpets and the priests who carried the chest. The rest of the army came next. The seven priests blew their trumpets while everyone marched slowly around Jericho and back to camp. They did this once a day for six days.

15 On the seventh day, the army got up at daybreak. They marched slowly around Jericho the same as they had done for the past six days, except on this day they went around seven times. 16 Then the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua yelled:

Get ready to shout! The Lord will let you capture this town. 17 But you must destroy it and everything in it, to show that it now belongs to the Lord.[a] The woman Rahab helped the spies we sent,[b] so protect her and the others who are inside her house. But kill everyone else in the town. 18-19 The silver and gold and everything made of bronze and iron belong to the Lord and must be put in his treasury. Be careful to follow these instructions, because if you see something you want and take it, the Lord will destroy Israel. And it will be all your fault.[c]

20 (A) The priests blew their trumpets again, and the soldiers shouted as loud as they could. The walls of Jericho fell flat. Then the soldiers rushed up the hill, went straight into the town, and captured it. 21-25 (B) They killed everyone, men and women, young and old, everyone except Rahab and the others in her house. They even killed every cow, sheep, and donkey.

Joshua said to the two men who had been spies, “Rahab kept you safe when I sent you to Jericho. We promised to protect her and her family, and we will keep that promise. Now go into her house and bring them out.”

The two men went into Rahab's house and brought her out, along with her father and mother, her brothers, and her other relatives. Rahab and her family had to stay in a place just outside the Israelite army camp.[d] But later they were allowed to live among the Israelites, and her descendants still do.

The Israelites took the silver and gold and the things made of bronze and iron and put them with the rest of the treasure that was kept at the Lord's house.[e] Finally, they set fire to Jericho and everything in it.

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Footnotes

  1. 6.17 destroy … now belongs to the Lord: Destroying a city and everything in it, including its people and animals, showed that it belonged to the Lord and could no longer be used by humans.
  2. 6.17 sent: See 2.1,21.
  3. 6.18,19 Be careful … fault: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Don't keep any of it for yourself. If you do, the Lord will destroy both you and Israel.”
  4. 6.21-25 camp: Rahab and her family were Canaanites and were considered unclean. If they stayed in the Israelite army camp, the Lord would not help the Israelite army in battle (see Deuteronomy 23.9-14). However, Rahab and her family later became part of Israel.
  5. 6.21-25 the Lord's house: A name for the place of worship, which at that time was the sacred tent.

12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.(A) 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!(B) 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted[a](C) to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute(D) and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid(E) the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things,(F) so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction(G) and bring trouble(H) on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron(I) are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

20 When the trumpets sounded,(J) the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout,(K) the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.(L) 21 They devoted(M) the city to the Lord and destroyed(N) with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

22 Joshua said to the two men(O) who had spied out(P) the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.(Q) 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her.(R) They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

24 Then they burned the whole city(S) and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron(T) into the treasury of the Lord’s house.(U) 25 But Joshua spared(V) Rahab the prostitute,(W) with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho(X)—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 6:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 18 and 21.