The Fall of Jericho

6 Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in.

²⁴ “The Lord has given us the whole land,” they said, “for all the people in the land are terrified of us.”

⁹ “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea^[a] when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.^{[b] 11} No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.

¹² “Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that ¹³ when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.”

¹⁴ “We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety,” the men agreed. “If you don’t betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land.”

⁷ So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.

Psalm 127

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of Solomon.

⁴ But Hoshea stopped paying the annual tribute and conspired against the king of Assyria by asking King So of Egypt^[a] to help him shake free of Assyria’s power. When the king of Assyria discovered this treachery, he seized Hoshea and put him in prison.