1 Now Jericho was shut up and was barred, because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2 And Jehovah said to Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, [and] the valiant men. 3 And ye shall go round the city, all the men of war, encompassing the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 4 And seven priests shall carry before the ark seven blast-trumpets; and on the seventh day ye shall go round the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. 5 And it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the blast-horn, that all the people on hearing the sound of the trumpet shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall flat, and the people shall go up, each one straight before him. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Carry the ark of the covenant, and seven priests shall carry seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah. 7 And he said to the people, Pass on, go round the city, and they that are armed shall pass on before the ark of Jehovah. 8 And it came to pass when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before Jehovah passed on and blew with the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went after them. 9 And the armed men went before the priests who blew with the trumpets, and the rearguard came after the ark; they blew with the trumpets in marching. 10 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, Shout; then shall ye shout. 11 And the ark of Jehovah went round the city, encompassing [it] once; and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. 12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of Jehovah. 13 And the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah went on and blew continually with the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and the rearguard went after the ark of Jehovah; they blew with the trumpets in marching. 14 And on the second day they went round the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. 15 And it was so that on the seventh day they rose early, about the morning-dawn, and went round the city after the same manner seven times; only on that day they went round the city seven times. 16 And it came to pass the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, Shout; for Jehovah has given you the city. 17 And the city shall be accursed, it and all that is in it, to Jehovah; only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18 But in any wise keep from the accursed thing, lest ye make [yourselves] accursed in taking of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 And all the silver, and gold, and vessels of copper and iron, shall be holy to Jehovah; they shall come into the treasury of Jehovah. 20 And the people shouted, and they blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpets, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat; and the people went up into the city, each one straight before him, and they took the city. 21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city; both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. 22 And Joshua said to the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman, and all that she has, as ye swore unto her. 23 And the young men, the spies, went in and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had: all her kindred did they bring out, and they left them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and all that was therein; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of copper and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. 25 And Joshua saved alive Rahab the harlot, and her father's household, and all that she had, and she dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day; because she hid the messengers whom Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. 26 And Joshua swore at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Jehovah who shall rise up and build this city Jericho! In his first-born shall he lay its foundation, and in his youngest son shall he set up its gates. 27 And Jehovah was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.
Joshua 6 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Rahab
The woman of Jericho who hid the spies and became mother of Boaz.
Cited in the guide: Joshua 2, 6; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31
Places
Jericho
Jericho guarded the eastern entrance to Canaan. The Old Testament city (Tell es-Sultan) fell to Joshua; Herodian Jericho nearby is where Jesus healed Bartimaeus and called Zacchaeus.
Cited in the guide: Joshua 6:20; Luke 19:1-10; Luke 10:30
Cross references (26)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Joshua 2:24; Joshua 2:9–14; Psalm 127:1; Joshua 2:7
- 2 Deuteronomy 7:24; Joshua 8:1; Joshua 2:24; Joshua 2:9; Nehemiah 9:24
- 3 2 Corinthians 4:7; Numbers 14:9; 1 Corinthians 1:21–25; Joshua 6:7; Joshua 6:14
- 4 2 Chronicles 20:17; Revelation 16:1; Judges 7:15–22; Revelation 8:2; 1 Kings 18:43
- 5 2 Corinthians 10:4–5; Hebrews 11:30; Exodus 19:19; Joshua 6:16; 2 Chronicles 13:14–15
- 6 Deuteronomy 20:2–4; Acts 9:1; Joshua 3:3; Exodus 25:14; Joshua 3:6
- 7 Joshua 4:13; Joshua 6:3; Joshua 1:14
- 8 Numbers 32:20; Joshua 6:3–4
- 9 Joshua 6:13; Numbers 10:25; Isaiah 58:8; Isaiah 52:11–12
- 10 Isaiah 42:2; Luke 24:49; Matthew 12:19; 2 Samuel 5:23–24; Isaiah 28:16
- 12 Joshua 3:1; Hebrews 11:7–8; Deuteronomy 31:25; Joshua 6:6–8; John 6:10–11
- 13 Galatians 6:9; Matthew 24:13; 1 Chronicles 15:26
- 14 Joshua 6:11; Joshua 6:3; Joshua 6:15
- 15 Psalm 119:147; 2 Peter 1:19; Matthew 28:1
- 16 2 Chronicles 13:15; Joshua 6:5; Judges 7:20–22; 2 Chronicles 20:22–23
- 17 Deuteronomy 20:17; James 2:25; Micah 4:13; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Galatians 3:12
- 18 1 John 5:21; Ephesians 5:11; Joshua 7:11–12; Joshua 7:1; Joshua 7:25
- 19 1 Chronicles 26:20; Matthew 27:6; Mark 12:41; 2 Kings 24:13; 1 Chronicles 18:11
- 20 Hebrews 11:30; 2 Corinthians 10:4–5; Joshua 6:5
- 21 Psalm 137:8–9; Jeremiah 48:18; 1 Samuel 15:3; Joshua 10:39; Joshua 9:24–25
- 22 Hebrews 11:31; Ezekiel 17:18–19; Joshua 6:17; Psalm 15:4; Ezekiel 17:16
- 23 Hebrews 11:7; Genesis 12:2; 1 Corinthians 5:12; Acts 27:24; Ephesians 2:12
- 24 Joshua 8:28; Revelation 17:16; 2 Kings 25:9; Revelation 18:8; Deuteronomy 13:16
- 25 Hebrews 11:31; Judges 1:24–25; Matthew 1:5; Joshua 2:6; James 2:25
- 26 1 Kings 16:34; Acts 19:13; Numbers 5:19–21; Matthew 26:63; 1 Samuel 14:24–46
- 27 Joshua 1:5; Joshua 9:3; Matthew 18:20; Matthew 28:20; Joshua 9:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The Ark is going around the walls of Jericho: there shall come a time at the seventh going round of the Ark, when all the walls of the city unbelieving and contradicting shall fall. Until it come to pass, this man is being troubled in his exercise; and enduring the remains of men contradicting, he would choose wings for flying …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)