Joshua 6
New English Translation
6 Now Jericho was shut tightly[a] because of the Israelites. No one was allowed to leave or enter.[b] 2 The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you,[c] along with its king and its warriors. 3 Have all the warriors march around the city one time;[d] do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns[e] in front of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns. 5 When you hear the signal from the ram’s horn,[f] have the whole army give a loud battle cry.[g] Then the city wall will collapse,[h] and the warriors should charge straight ahead.”[i]
6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and instructed them, “Pick up the ark of the covenant, and seven priests must carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” 7 And he told[j] the army,[k] “Move ahead[l] and march around the city, with armed troops going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”
8 When Joshua gave the army its orders,[m] the seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the Lord moved ahead and blew the horns as the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed behind. 9 Armed troops marched ahead of the priests blowing the horns, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark blowing rams’ horns. 10 Now Joshua had instructed the army,[n] “Do not give a battle cry[o] or raise your voices; say nothing[p] until the day I tell you, ‘Give the battle cry.’[q] Then give the battle cry!”[r] 11 So Joshua made sure they marched the ark of the Lord around the city one time.[s] Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there.[t]
12 Bright and early the next morning Joshua had the priests pick up the ark of the Lord.[u] 13 The seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord marched along blowing their horns. Armed troops marched ahead of them, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark of the Lord blowing rams’ horns. 14 They marched around the city one time on the second day, then returned to the camp. They did this six days in all.
15 On the seventh day they were up at the crack of dawn[v] and marched around the city as before—only this time they marched around it seven times.[w] 16 The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns, and Joshua told the army,[x] “Give the battle cry,[y] for the Lord is handing the city over to you![z] 17 The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord;[aa] only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies[ab] we sent. 18 But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for God. If you take any of it, then you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster.[ac] 19 All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord.[ad] They must go into the Lord’s treasury.”
20 The rams’ horns sounded,[ae] and when the army[af] heard the signal,[ag] they gave a loud battle cry.[ah] The wall collapsed,[ai] and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.[aj] 21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city,[ak] including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys. 22 Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, “Enter the prostitute’s house[al] and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her.”[am] 23 So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside[an] the Israelite camp. 24 But they burned[ao] the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord’s house.[ap] 25 Yet Joshua spared[aq] Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family,[ar] and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel[as] to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho. 26 At that time Joshua made this solemn declaration:[at] “The man who attempts to rebuild[au] this city of Jericho[av] will stand condemned before the Lord.[aw] He will lose his firstborn son when he lays its foundations and his youngest son when he erects its gates!”[ax] 27 The Lord was with Joshua and he became famous throughout the land.[ay]
Footnotes
- Joshua 6:1 tn Heb “was shutting and shut up.” HALOT 743 s.v. I סגר paraphrases, “blocking [any way of access] and blocked [against any who would leave].”
- Joshua 6:1 tn Heb “there was no one going out and there was no one coming in.”
- Joshua 6:2 tn Heb “I have given into your hand Jericho.” The Hebrew verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, “I have given”) is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action. The Hebrew pronominal suffix “your” is singular, being addressed to Joshua as the leader and representative of the nation. To convey to the modern reader what is about to happen and who is doing it, the translation “I am about to defeat Jericho for you” has been used.
- Joshua 6:3 tn Heb “and go around the city, all [you] men of war, encircling the city one time.” The Hebrew verb וְסַבֹּתֶם (vesabbotem, “and go around”) is plural, being addressed to the whole army.
- Joshua 6:4 tn Heb “rams’ horns, trumpets.”
- Joshua 6:5 tn Heb “and it will be at the sounding of the horn, the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn.” The text of Josh 6:5 seems to be unduly repetitive, so for the sake of English style and readability, it is best to streamline the text here. The reading in the Hebrew looks like a conflation of variant readings, with the second (“when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn”) being an interpolation that assimilates the text to verse 20 (“when the army heard the sound of the horn”). Note that the words “when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn” do not appear in the LXX of verse 5.
- Joshua 6:5 tn Heb “all the people will shout with a loud shout.”
- Joshua 6:5 tn Heb “fall in its place.”
- Joshua 6:5 tn Heb “and the people will go up, each man straight ahead.”
- Joshua 6:7 tn An alternative reading is “and they said.” In this case the subject is indefinite and the verb should be translated as passive, “[the army] was told.”
- Joshua 6:7 tn Heb “the people.”
- Joshua 6:7 tn Heb “pass by.”
- Joshua 6:8 tn Heb “when Joshua spoke to the people.”
- Joshua 6:10 tn Heb “the people.”
- Joshua 6:10 tn Or “the shout.”
- Joshua 6:10 tn Heb “do not let a word come out of your mouths.”
- Joshua 6:10 tn Or “the shout.”
- Joshua 6:10 tn Or “the shout.”
- Joshua 6:11 tn Heb “and he made the ark of the Lord go around the city, encircling one time.”
- Joshua 6:11 tn Heb “and they entered the camp and spent the night in the camp.”
- Joshua 6:12 tn Heb “Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests picked up the ark of the Lord.”
- Joshua 6:15 tn Heb “On the seventh day they rose early, when the dawn ascended.”
- Joshua 6:15 tn Heb “and they went around the city according to this manner seven times, only on that day they went around the city seven times.”
- Joshua 6:16 tn Heb “the people.”
- Joshua 6:16 tn Or “the shout.”
- Joshua 6:16 tn Heb “for the Lord has given to you the city.” The verbal form is a perfect, probably indicating certitude here.
- Joshua 6:17 tn Or “dedicated to the Lord.”sn To make the city set apart for the Lord would involve annihilating all the people and animals and placing its riches in the Lord’s treasury (vv. 19, 21, 24).
- Joshua 6:17 tn Heb “messengers.”
- Joshua 6:18 tn Heb “Only you keep [away] from what is set apart [to God] so that you might not, as you are setting [it] apart, take some of what is set apart [to God] and turn the camp of Israel into what is set apart [to destruction by God] and bring trouble on it.”
- Joshua 6:19 tn Heb “it is holy to the Lord.”
- Joshua 6:20 tc Heb “and the people shouted and they blew the rams’ horns.” The initial statement (“and the people shouted”) seems premature, since the verse goes on to explain that the battle cry followed the blowing of the horns. The statement has probably been accidentally duplicated from what follows. It is omitted in the LXX.
- Joshua 6:20 tn Heb “the people.”
- Joshua 6:20 tn Heb “the sound of the horn.”
- Joshua 6:20 tn Heb “they shouted with a loud shout.”
- Joshua 6:20 tn Heb “fell in its place.”
- Joshua 6:20 tn Heb “and the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead, and they captured the city.”
- Joshua 6:21 tn Heb “all which was in the city.”
- Joshua 6:22 tn Heb “the house of the woman, the prostitute.”
- Joshua 6:22 tn Heb “and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her as you swore on oath to her.”
- Joshua 6:23 tn Or “placed them outside.”
- Joshua 6:24 tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”
- Joshua 6:24 tn Heb “the treasury of the house of the Lord.” Technically the Lord did not have a “house” yet, so perhaps this refers to the tabernacle using later terminology.
- Joshua 6:25 tn Heb “kept alive.”
- Joshua 6:25 tn Heb the house of her father.”
- Joshua 6:25 tn Or “among the Israelites”; Heb “in the midst of Israel.”
- Joshua 6:26 tn Normally the Hiphil of שָׁבַע (shavaʿ) has a causative sense (“make [someone] take an oath”; see Josh 2:17, 20), but here (see also Josh 23:7) no object is stated or implied. If Joshua is calling divine judgment down upon the one who attempts to rebuild Jericho, then “make a solemn appeal [to God as judge]” or “pronounce a curse” would be an appropriate translation. However, the tone seems stronger. Joshua appears to be announcing the certain punishment of the violator. 1 Kgs 16:34, which records the fulfillment of Joshua’s prediction, supports this. Casting Joshua in a prophetic role, it refers to Joshua’s statement as the “word of the Lord” spoken through Joshua.
- Joshua 6:26 tn Heb “rises up and builds.”
- Joshua 6:26 tc The LXX omits “Jericho.” It is probably a scribal addition.
- Joshua 6:26 tn The Hebrew phrase אָרוּר לִפְנֵי יְהוָה (ʾarur lifne yehvah, “cursed [i.e., condemned] before the Lord”) also occurs in 1 Sam 26:19.
- Joshua 6:26 tn Heb “With his firstborn he will lay its foundations and with his youngest he will erect its gates.” The Hebrew verb יַצִּיב (yatsiv, “he will erect”) is imperfect, not jussive, suggesting Joshua’s statement is a prediction, not an imprecation.
- Joshua 6:27 tn Heb “and the report about him was in all the land.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (ʾerets, “land”) may also be translated “earth.”
Joshua 6
Expanded Bible
The Fall of Jericho
6 The people of Jericho were afraid because the Israelites were near. They closed the city gates and guarded them [L Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons/T children of Israel]. No one went into the city, and no one came out.
2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Look, I have given ·you Jericho [L Jericho into your hands], its king, and all its fighting men. 3 March around the city with your ·army [L fighting men] once a day for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets made from ·horns of male sheep [rams’ horns] and have them march in front of the Ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times and have the priests blow the trumpets as they march. 5 They will make one long blast on the trumpets. When you hear that sound, have all the people give a loud shout. Then the walls of the city will ·fall [collapse] so the people can ·go [charge] straight into the city.”
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests together and said to them, “Carry the Ark of the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty]. Tell seven priests to carry trumpets and march in front of it.” 7 Then Joshua ordered the ·people [or army], “Now go! March around the city. The ·soldiers with weapons [armed troops; or royal guard] should march in front of the Ark of the ·Agreement with [Covenant/Treaty of] the Lord.”
8 When Joshua finished speaking to the ·people [or army], the seven priests began marching before the Lord. They carried the seven trumpets and blew them as they marched. The priests carrying the Ark of the ·Agreement with [Covenant/Treaty of] the Lord followed them. 9 ·Soldiers with weapons [Armed troops; or The royal guard] marched in front of the priests, and ·armed men [the rear guard] walked behind the Ark. The priests were blowing their trumpets. 10 But Joshua had ·told [commanded] the people not to give ·a war cry [the shout]. He said, “Don’t shout. Don’t say a word until the day I tell you. Then shout.” 11 So Joshua had the Ark of the Lord carried around the city one time. Then they went back to camp for the night.
12 Early the next morning Joshua got up, and the priests carried the Ark of the Lord again. 13 The seven priests carried the seven trumpets and marched in front of the Ark of the Lord, blowing their trumpets. ·Soldiers with weapons [Armed troops or The royal guard] marched in front of them, and ·other soldiers [the rear guard] walked behind the Ark of the Lord. ·All this time the priests were blowing their trumpets […while the trumpets kept blowing]. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city one time and then went back to camp. They did this every day for six days.
15 On the seventh day they got up at dawn and marched around the city, just as they had on the days before. But on that day they marched around the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around the priests blew their trumpets. Then Joshua gave the command: “Now, ·shout [give the battle cry]! The Lord has given you this city! 17 The city and everything in it are to be ·destroyed as an offering [L devoted; set apart; 2:10] to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone in her house should remain alive. They must not be killed, because Rahab hid the ·two spies [L messengers] we sent out [2:1–24]. 18 ·Don’t take any of [Keep away from] the things that are ·to be destroyed as an offering [devoted; set apart] to the Lord. If you take them and bring them into ·our camp [L the camp of Israel], you yourselves will be ·destroyed [devoted/set apart for destruction], and you will bring trouble to all of Israel. 19 All the silver and gold and things made from bronze and iron belong to the Lord and must ·be saved for him [L go into the treasury of the Lord].”
20 When the priests blew the trumpets, the ·people [army] shouted. At the sound of the trumpets and the ·people’s [army’s] shout, the walls fell, and everyone ·ran [charged] straight into the city. So the Israelites ·defeated [captured; took] that city. 21 They ·completely destroyed [devoted to the Lord] with the ·sword [L edge of the sword] every living thing in the city—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys.
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house. Bring her out and bring out those who ·are with [belong to] her, because of the ·promise you made [oath you swore] to her.” 23 So the ·two men [young men] went into the house and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all ·those with [who belonged to] her. They put all of her family in a safe place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then Israel burned the whole city and everything in it, but they did not burn the things made from silver, gold, bronze, and iron. These were ·saved for [L put in the treasury of the house of] the Lord. 25 Joshua saved Rahab the prostitute, her ·family [L father’s household], and all who ·were with [belonged to] her, because Rahab had helped the men he had sent to spy out Jericho [Matt. 1:5; Heb. 11:31; James 2:25]. Rahab still lives among the Israelites today.
26 Then Joshua ·made [or caused them to take] this oath:
“Anyone who tries to rebuild this city of Jericho
will be cursed ·by [or before] the Lord.
The one who lays the foundation of this city
will lose his ·oldest [firstborn] son,
and the one who sets up the gates
will lose his youngest son [1 Kin. 16:34].”
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and Joshua became famous through all the land.
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