1 And Jericho shuts itself up, and is shut up, because of the presence of the sons of Israel—none going out, and none coming in. 2 And YHWH says to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho and its king into your hand—mighty men of valor, 3 and you have surrounded the city—all the men of battle—going around the city once; thus you do [for] six days; 4 and seven priests carry seven horns of the rams before the Ark, and on the seventh day you go around the city seven times, and the priests blow with the horns, 5 and it has been, in the prolonging of the horn of the ram, in your hearing the voice of the horn, all the people shout [with] a great shout, and the wall of the city has fallen under it, and the people have gone up, each straight before him.” 6 And Joshua son of Nun calls to the priests and says to them, “Carry the Ark of the Covenant, and seven priests carry seven horns of the rams before the Ark of YHWH”; 7 and He said to the people, “Pass over, and go around the city, and he who is armed passes over before the Ark of YHWH.” 8 And it comes to pass, when Joshua speaks to the people, that the seven priests carrying seven horns of the rams before YHWH have passed over and blown with the horns, and the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH is going after them; 9 and he who is armed is going before the priests blowing the horns, and he who is gathering up is going after the Ark, going on and blowing with the horns; 10 and Joshua has commanded the people, saying, “Do not shout, nor cause your voice to be heard, nor does a word go out from your mouth, until the day of my saying to you, Shout! Then you have shouted.” 11 And the Ark of YHWH goes around the city, going around once, and they come into the camp, and lodge in the camp. 12 And Joshua rises early in the morning, and the priests carry the Ark of YHWH, 13 and seven priests carrying seven horns of the rams before the Ark of YHWH are walking, going on, and they have blown with the horns—and he who is armed is going before them, and he who is gathering up is going behind the Ark of YHWH—going on and blowing with the horns. 14 And they go around the city once on the second day, and return to the camp; thus they have done [for] six days. 15 And it comes to pass, on the seventh day, that they rise early, at the ascending of the dawn, and go around the city, according to this manner, seven times; (only on that day have they gone around the city seven times); 16 and it comes to pass, at the seventh time, the priests have blown with the horns, and Joshua says to the people, “Shout! For YHWH has given the city to you; 17 and the city has been devoted, it and all that [is] in it, to YHWH; only Rahab the harlot lives, she and all who [are] with her in the house, for she hid the messengers whom we sent; 18 and surely you have kept from the devoted thing, lest you devote [yourselves], and have taken from the devoted thing, and have made the camp of Israel become a devoted thing, and have troubled it; 19 and all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron—it [is] holy to YHWH; it comes into the treasury of YHWH.” 20 And the people shout, and blow with the horns, and it comes to pass, when the people hear the voice of the horn, that the people shout [with] a great shout, and the wall falls under it, and the people goes up into the city, each straight before him, and they capture the city; 21 and they devote all that [is] in the city, from man even to woman, from young even to aged, even to ox, and sheep, and donkey, by the mouth of the sword. 22 And Joshua said to the two men who are spying out the land, “Go into the house of the woman, the harlot, and bring out the woman from there, and all whom she has, as you have sworn to her.” 23 And the young men, those spying, go in and bring out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all whom she has; indeed, they have brought out all her relatives, and place them at the outside of the camp of Israel. 24 And they have burned the city with fire, and all that [is] in it; only, the silver and the gold, and the vessels of bronze, and of iron, they have given [to] the treasury of the house of YHWH; 25 and Rahab the harlot, and the house of her father, and all whom she has, Joshua has kept alive; and she dwells in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 And Joshua adjures [them] at that time, saying, “Cursed [is] the man before YHWH who raises up and has built this city, [even] Jericho; he lays its foundation in his firstborn, and he sets up its doors in his youngest.” 27 And YHWH is with Joshua, and his fame is in all the land.
Joshua · Literal Standard Version
Joshua 6 Literal Standard Version
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)