Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of Bani-Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2YAHWEH1 said to Yusha, “Behold, I have given into your hand Jericho, and its king, and the mighty men of valour. 3You shall go around the city, all the men of war, going about the city once. Thus shall you do six days. 4Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark: and the seventh day you shall go around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5It 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 shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
6Yusha bin Nun called the priests, and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of YAHWEH.”
7They said to the people, “March, and go around the city, and let the armed men march before the ark of YAHWEH.”
8It was so, that when Yusha had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before YAHWEH passed on, and blew the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of YAHWEH followed them. 9The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rearward went after the ark, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went.
10Yusha commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall you shout.” 11So he caused the ark of YAHWEH to go around the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. 12Yusha rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of YAHWEH. 13The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of YAHWEH went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; and the rearward came after the ark of YAHWEH, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went. 14The second day they went around the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
15It happened on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and went around the city after the same manner seven times: only on the day they went around the city seven times. 16It happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Yusha said to the people, “Shout, for YAHWEH has given you the city! 17The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is therein, to YAHWEH: only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. 19But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are holy to YAHWEH: they shall come into the treasury of YAHWEH.”
20So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and it happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword. 22Yusha said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring out there the woman, and all that she has, as you swore to her.” 23The young men the spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had; all her relatives also they brought out; and they set them outside of the camp of Israel. 24They burned the city with fire, and all that was therein; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of YAHWEH. 25But Rahab the prostitute, and her father’s household, and all that she had, did Yusha save alive; and she lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Yusha sent to spy out Jericho.
26Yusha charged them with an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed be the man before YAHWEH, who rises up and builds this city Jericho: with the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.”2 27So YAHWEH was with Yusha; and his fame was in all the land.
- 6:2 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
- 6:26 This prophecy was fulfilled hundreds of years later during the reign of King Ahab when a man named Hiel rebuilt Jericho at the cost of his oldest and youngest sons. The Taurat, 1 Kings 16:34 says: “In his [Ahab’s] days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho: he laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the Word of YAHWEH, which he spoke by Yusha son of Nun.” ↩︎