10 While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal (A)they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the (B)fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. 11 Then on the day after the Passover, on [a]that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted grain. 12 And (C)the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year.

13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, (D)a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 He said, “No; rather I have come now as captain of the army of the Lord.” And Joshua (E)fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 And the captain of the Lords army said to Joshua, “(F)Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Conquest of Jericho

Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. But the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have handed Jericho over to you, with (G)its king and the valiant warriors. And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry seven (H)trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down [b]flat, and the people shall go up, everyone [c]straight ahead.”

So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” Then [d]he said to the people, “Go forward and march around the city, and the armed men shall go on ahead of the ark of the Lord.” And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men went ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and (I)the rear guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the trumpets. 10 But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard, nor let a word proceed from your mouth, until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord [e]taken around the city, circling it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 5:11 Lit this
  2. Joshua 6:5 Lit in its place
  3. Joshua 6:5 Lit before himself
  4. Joshua 6:7 Another reading is they
  5. Joshua 6:11 Lit to go around

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