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15 Then on the seventh day they got up early at daybreak and marched around the city in the same way seven times; only on that day they marched around the city [a]seven times.

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 6:15 In ancient times any walled town was called a “city” and its ruler was called “a king,” but the fact that Joshua’s army could march around Jericho seven times in one day shows that it was a very small place. Though the walls were formidable, the area they enclosed only measured seven acres. The whole circumference of the city was about 650 yards. Jebusite Jerusalem, which David captured, was about the same size. Schliemann, the German archeologist, experienced a similar surprise in 1873 when he excavated the city of Troy, which Homer tells us withstood the Grecian warriors for quite some time. It would almost seem that these ancient cities were more like places of refuge for the area’s population when an enemy approached. During peaceful times a large proportion of the inhabitants would live outside the city’s walls, because they were shepherds and farmers. Generally, only the craftsmen and administrators lived within the walls.

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