The Promised Land · c. 1406 BC
Chapter 3
The Walls of Jericho
So the people shouted and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, 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 in front of him, and they took the city.
For parents
When the wall falls, Israel takes Jericho and kills everyone in the city with the sword, men and women, young and old, and the animals too (Joshua 6:21), and then burns the city (6:24). Joshua puts the people under oath, with a curse on the man who sets out to build Jericho: he will lose his firstborn and his youngest son (6:26). It is all told plainly, without detail or comment; Rahab is called “the prostitute,” as the WEB calls her (6:17, 22, 25).
was locked up tight because of the . No one went out, and no one came in.
The said to , “Look, I have given you Jericho, with its king and its mighty warriors. Every man in your army is to march around the city once. Do this for six days.
“Seven are to carry seven trumpets made from ahead of the . On the seventh day, you are to go around the city seven times, and the priests are to blow the trumpets. When they make a long blast on the ram’s horn, and you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people are to give a great shout. Then the city wall will fall down flat, and the people will go up into the city, each man straight ahead from where he stands.”
Joshua the son of called the priests. “Take up the ark of the ,” he said to them, “and seven priests are to carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns ahead of the Lord’s ark.”
They said to the people, “Move out! March around the city, with the armed men going on ahead of the Lord’s ark.”
Once Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests went forward in the Lord’s presence with the seven trumpets of rams’ horns, and they blew the trumpets. The ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. The armed men went ahead of the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the ark came after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.
Joshua gave the people an order. “Don’t shout,” he said, “and don’t let your voices be heard. Not one word is to come out of your mouths until the day I tell you to shout. Then you are to shout.”
So he had the Lord’s ark go around the city, circling it once. Then they came into the camp and stayed there.
Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the Lord’s ark. The seven priests with the seven trumpets of rams’ horns kept on walking ahead of the Lord’s ark, blowing the trumpets. The armed men went in front of them. Behind the Lord’s ark came the rear guard, the soldiers at the back. The trumpets sounded as they went.
The second day they went around the city once and came back into the camp. They did this for six days.
On the seventh day they got up early, at dawn, and marched around the city the same way seven times. It was only on this day that they went around the city seven times.
The seventh time around, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! The Lord has given you the city!
“The city is to be to the Lord, with everything in it. Only the is to live, along with everyone in the house with her, because she hid the messengers we sent.
“But as for you, keep away from everything given over to destruction. Once you have given it to the Lord, don’t take any of it, or you will bring a and trouble on the camp of Israel.
“But all the silver and gold, and the bronze and iron pots and bowls, are to the Lord. They are to go into the Lord’s treasury, where his treasure is kept.”
So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they gave a great shout, and the wall fell down flat. The people went up into the city, each man straight ahead from where he stood, and they took it.
They killed everyone in the city with the sword, men and women, young and old, and the oxen, sheep and donkeys too.
Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring out the woman and everything she has, as you swore to her.”
The young men who had been the spies went in and brought out Rahab, with her father, her mother, her brothers and all she had. They brought out all her relatives too, and took them to a place outside the camp of Israel.
They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. But they put the silver, the gold, and the bronze and iron pots and bowls into the treasury of the Lord’s house.
But Joshua kept Rahab the prostitute alive, with her father’s family and all she had. She lives among the Israelites to this day, because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
At that time Joshua gave them a command, with an oath. He said:
“Cursed in the Lord’s presence is the manwho sets out to build this city, Jericho.He will lose his firstborn when he lays its foundation,and his youngest son when he sets up its gates.”
So the Lord was with Joshua, and people everywhere in the land heard about him.