Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

6 Yericho had completely barricaded its gates against the people of Isra’el — no one left, and no one entered. ² Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “I have handed Yericho over to you, including its king and his warriors. ³ You are to encircle the city with all your soldiers and march around it once. Do this for six days. ⁴ Seven cohanim are to carry seven shofars in front of the ark. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, and the cohanim will blow the shofars. ⁵ Then they are to blow a long blast on the shofar. On hearing the sound of the shofar, all the people are to shout as loudly as they can; and the wall of the city will fall down flat. Then the people are to go up into the city, each one straight from where he stands.”

⁶ Y’hoshua the son of Nun called the cohanim and told them, “Take up the ark for the covenant, and have seven cohanim carry seven shofars ahead of the ark of Adonai.” ⁷ To the people he said, “Move on, encircle the city, and have the army march ahead of the ark of Adonai.” ⁸ When Y’hoshua had spoken to the people, the seven cohanim carrying the seven shofars before Adonai passed on and blew on the shofars, with the ark for the covenant of Adonai following them. ⁹ The fighting men went ahead of the cohanim blowing the shofars, while the rearguard marched after the ark, with incessant blowing on the shofars. ¹⁰ Y’hoshua gave this order to the people: “Don’t shout, don’t let your voice be heard, don’t let a single word out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout; then you will shout.”

¹¹ So he had the ark of Adonai make a circle around the city, going around it once; then they returned to camp and stayed in the camp. ¹² The next morning Y’hoshua got up early, and the cohanim took up the ark of Adonai. ¹³ The seven cohanim carrying the seven shofars ahead of the ark of Adonai went on, continually blowing on their shofars, with the fighting men marching ahead of them and the rearguard following after the ark of Adonai; all the while the blowing on the shofars was incessant. ¹⁴ The second day, they went around the city once and returned to camp. They did the same for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up early, at sunrise, and went around the city in the same way seven times. That was the only day they encircled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time, when the cohanim blew on their shofars, Y’hoshua said to the people, “Shout! because Adonai has given you the city! ¹⁷ But the city and everything in it is to be set aside for Adonai and therefore to be destroyed completely; only Rachav the prostitute is to be spared, she and everyone with her in her house, because she hid the messengers we sent. ¹⁸ So you, keep clear of everything reserved for destruction. If you bring a curse on yourselves by taking anything set aside to be destroyed, you will bring a curse on the whole camp of Isra’el and cause great distress there. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold, and all the brass and iron utensils are to be separated out for Adonai and added to the treasury of Adonai.”

²⁰ So the people shouted, with the shofars blowing. When the people heard the sound of the shofars, the people let out a great shout; and the wall fell down flat; so that the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead of him; and they captured the city. ²¹ They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

²⁹ By trusting, they walked through the Red Sea as through dry land; when the Egyptians tried to do it, the sea swallowed them up.

³⁰ By trusting, the walls of Yericho fell down — after the people had marched around them for seven days.

³¹ By trusting, Rachav the prostitute welcomed the spies and therefore did not die along with those who were disobedient.

³² What more should I say? There isn’t time to tell about Gid‘on, Barak, Shimshon, Yiftach, David, Sh’mu’el and the prophets; ³³ who, through trusting, conquered kingdoms, worked righteousness, received what was promised, shut the mouths of lions,^{[a] 34} quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, had their weakness turned to strength, grew mighty in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead resurrected; other people were stretched on the rack and beaten to death, refusing to be ransomed, so that they would gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Others underwent the trials of being mocked and whipped, then chained and imprisoned. ³⁷ They were stoned, sawed in two, murdered by the sword; they went about clothed in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, mistreated, ³⁸ wandering about in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground! The world was not worthy of them!

³⁹ All of these had their merit attested because of their trusting. Nevertheless, they did not receive what had been promised, ⁴⁰ because God had planned something better that would involve us, so that only with us would they be brought to the goal.

12 So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment — that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement — and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us, ² looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting,^[b] Yeshua — who, in exchange for obtaining the joy set before him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scorning the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.^[c]