Joshua 6:8-27

⁸When Joshua finished speaking to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven rams' horns in the presence of the Lord started out, blowing the horns, with the Ark following behind.

⁹Some of the armed men marched ahead of the priests blowing the horns, while some followed the Ark, the horns being blown continually.

¹⁰However, Joshua ordered them, “Don't shout, don't even talk. Don't say anything until I tell you all to shout—then shout!”

¹¹So the Ark of the Lord was carried around the city, circling it once. Then they returned to the camp and spent the night there.

¹²Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests picked up the Ark of the Lord.

¹³The seven priests with the seven rams' horns went ahead of the Ark of the Lord, blowing the horns. The armed men went before them and behind the Ark of the Lord, the horns being blown continually.

¹⁴So on the second day they marched around the city, circling it once, and returned to the camp. They did this for a total of six days.

¹⁵On the seventh day they got up at dawn and marched around the city in the usual way, except that this day they circled the city seven times.

¹⁶The seventh time around when the priests blew the horns, Joshua told the people, “Shout! For today the Lord has given the city to you!

¹⁷The city and everything in it is to be set apart for the Lord and destroyed. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.

¹⁸But stay away from everything set apart for the Lord, for if you were to take anything you too would be liable to be destroyed, and you would also bring disaster on the camp of Israel.

¹⁹All the silver and the gold, and everything made of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord and they must be placed in the Lord's treasury.”

²⁰So as soon as they heard the sound of the horns, the people gave a loud shout, and the city walls collapsed. The men went in right away and captured the city.

²¹They destroyed everything in the city: men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys, all were killed by the sword.

²²Joshua had told the two men who had gone to explore the land, “Go to the house of Rahab the prostitute and bring her out together with all her family, as you promised.”

²³So the spies went and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, and all who were with her. They brought out the whole family and took them to a place near the Israelite camp.

²⁴Then the Israelites burned down the city and everything in it, except for the silver and the gold, and everything made of bronze and iron, which they placed in the treasury of the Lord's house.

²⁵Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her family because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.

²⁶At that time Joshua declared a curse, saying: “Cursed before the Lord is anyone who attempts to rebuild this city of Jericho. He lays its foundation at the cost of his firstborn son; he sets up its gates at the cost of his youngest son.”

²⁷So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.