⇑  ⇐  Joshua 6 (BEN) ⇒

1 (Now Jericho was all shut up because of the children of Israel: there was no going out or coming in.) 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given into your hands Jericho with its king and all its men of war. 3 Now let all your fighting-men make a circle round the town, going all round it once. Do this for six days. 4 And let seven priests go before the ark with seven loud-sounding horns in their hands: on the seventh day you are to go round the town seven times, the priests blowing their horns. 5 And at the sound of a long note on the horns, let all the people give a loud cry; and the wall of the town will come down flat, and all the people are to go straight forward.

6 Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent for the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the agreement, and let seven priests take seven horns in their hands and go before the ark of the Lord. 7 And he said to the people, Go forward, circling the town, and let the armed men go before the ark of the Lord.

8 So after Joshua had said this to the people, the seven priests with their seven horns went forward before the Lord, blowing on their horns: and the ark of the Lord's agreement went after them. 9 And the armed men went before the priests who were blowing the horns, and the mass of the people went after the ark, blowing their horns. 10 And to the people Joshua gave an order, saying, You will give no cry, and make no sound, and let no word go out of your mouth till the day when I say, Give a loud cry; then give a loud cry. 11 So he made the ark of the Lord go all round the town once: then they went back to the tents for the night.

12 And early in the morning Joshua got up, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 And the seven priests with their seven horns went on before the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns: the armed men went before them, and the mass of the people went after the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns. 14 The second day they went all round the town once, and then went back to their tents: and so they did for six days.

15 Then on the seventh day they got up early, at the dawn of the day, and went round the town in the same way, but that day they went round it seven times. 16 And the seventh time, at the sound of the priests' horns, Joshua said to the people, Now give a loud cry; for the Lord has given you the town. 17 And the town will be put to the curse, and everything in it will be given to the Lord: only Rahab, the loose woman, and all who are in the house with her, will be kept safe, because she kept secret the men we sent. 18 And as for you, keep yourselves from the cursed thing, for fear that you may get a desire for it and take some of it for yourselves, and so be the cause of a curse and great trouble on the tents of Israel. 19 But all the silver and gold and the vessels of brass and iron are holy to the Lord: they are to come into the store-house of the Lord.

20 So the people gave a loud cry, and the horns were sounded; and on hearing the horns the people gave a loud cry, and the wall came down flat, so that the people went up into the town, every man going straight before him, and they took the town. 21 And they put everything in the town to the curse; men and women, young and old, ox and sheep and ass, they put to death without mercy.

22 Then Joshua said to the two men who had been sent to make a search through the land, Go into the house of the loose woman, and get her out, and all who are with her, as you gave her your oath. 23 So the searchers went in and got out Rahab and her father and mother and her brothers and all she had, and they got out all her family; and they took them outside the tents of Israel. 24 Then, after burning up the town and everything in it, they put the silver and gold and the vessels of brass and iron into the store-house of the Lord's house. 25 But Joshua kept Rahab, the loose woman, and her father's family and all she had, from death, and so she got a living-place among the children of Israel to this day; because she kept safe the men whom Joshua had sent to make a search through the land.

26 Then Joshua gave the people orders with an oath, saying, Let that man be cursed before the Lord who puts his hand to the building up of this town: with the loss of his first son will he put the first stone of it in place, and with the loss of his youngest son he will put up its doors.

27 So the Lord was with Joshua; and news of him went through all the land.     ⇒