Joshua 6–12

Chapter 6

Now Jericho was close shut up and fenced, for fear of the children of Israel, and no man durst go out or come in.

²And the Lord said to Josue: Behold I have given into thy hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the valiant men.

³Go round about the city all ye fighting men once a day: so shall ye do for six days.

⁴And on the seventh day the priests shall take the seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee, and shall go before the ark of the covenant: and you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests shall sound the trumpets.

⁵And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken tune, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together with a very great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the ground, and they shall enter in every one at the place against which they shall stand.

⁶Then Josue, the son of Nun, called the priests, and said to them: Take the ark of the covenant: and let seven other priests take the seven trumpets of the jubilee, and march before the ark of the Lord.

⁷And he said to the people: Go, and compass the city, armed, marching before the ark of the Lord.

⁸And when Josue had ended his words, and the seven priests blew the seven trumpets before the ark of the covenant of the Lord,

⁹And all the armed men went before, the rest of the common people followed the ark, and the sound of the trumpets was heard on all sides.

¹⁰But Josue had commanded the people, saying: You shall not shout, nor shall your voice be heard, nor any word go out of your mouth: until the day come wherein I shall say to you: Cry, and shout.

¹¹So the ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and returning into the camp, abode there.

¹²And Josue rising before day, the priests took the ark of the Lord,

¹³And seven of them seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee: and they went before the ark of the Lord, walking and sounding the trumpets: and the armed men went before them, and the rest of the common people followed the ark, and they blew the trumpets.

¹⁴And they went round about the city the second day once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days.

¹⁵But the seventh day, rising up early, they went about the city, as it was ordered, seven times.

¹⁶And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: Shout: for the Lord hath delivered the city to you:

¹⁷And let this city be an anathema, and all things that are in it, to the Lord. Let only Rahab, the harlot, live, with all that are with her in the house: for she hid the messengers whom we sent.

¹⁸But beware ye lest you touch ought of those things that are forbidden, and you be guilty of transgression, and all the camp of Israel be under sin, and be troubled.

¹⁹But whatsoever gold or silver there shall be, or vessels of brass and iron, let it be consecrated to the Lord, laid up in his treasures.

²⁰So all the people making a shout, and the trumpets sounding, when the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was over against him: and they took the city,

²¹And killed all that were in it, man and woman, young and old. The oxen also, and the sheep, and the asses, they slew with the edge of the sword.

²²But Josue said to the two men that had been sent for spies: Go into the harlot’s house, and bring her out, and all things that are hers, as you assured her by oath.

²³And the young men went in, and brought out Rahab, and her parents, her brethren also, and all her goods, and her kindred, and made them to stay without the camp.

²⁴But they burned the city, and all things that were therein; except the gold and silver, and vessels of brass and iron, which they consecrated unto the treasury of the Lord.

²⁵But Josue saved Rahab the harlot, and her father’s house, and all she had, and they dwelt in the midst of Israel until this present day: because she hid the messengers whom he had sent to spy out Jericho. At that time, Josue made an imprecation, saying:

²⁶Cursed be the man before the Lord, that shall raise up and build the city of Jericho. In his firstborn may he lay the foundation thereof, and in the last of his children set up its gates.

²⁷And the Lord was with Josue, and his name was noised throughout all the land

Chapter 7

But the children of Israel transgressed the commandment, and took to their own use of that which was accursed. For Achan, the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda, took something of the anathema: and the Lord was angry against the children of Israel.

²And when Josue sent men from Jericho against Hai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of the town of Bethel, he said to them: Go up, and view the country: and they fulfilled his command, and viewed Hai.

³And returning, they said to him: Let not all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go, and destroy the city: why should all the people be troubled in vain, against enemies that are very few?

⁴There went up therefore three thousand fighting men: who immediately turned their backs,

⁵And were defeated by the men of the city of Hai, and there fell of them six and thirty men: and the enemies pursued them from the gate as far as Sabarim, and they slew them as they fled by the descent: and the heart of the people was struck with fear, and melted like water.

⁶But Josue rent his garments, and fell flat on the ground, before the ark of the Lord, until the evening, both he and all the ancients of Israel: and they put dust upon their heads.

⁷And Josue said: Alas, O Lord God, why wouldst thou bring this people over the river Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and to destroy us? would God we had stayed beyond the Jordan, as we began.

⁸My Lord God, what shall I say, seeing Israel turning their backs to their enemies?

⁹The Chanaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land, will hear of it, and being gathered together will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do to thy great name?

¹⁰And the Lord said to Josue: Arise, why liest thou flat on the ground?

¹¹Israel hath sinned, and transgressed my covenant: and they have taken of the anathema, and have stolen and lied, and have hid it among their goods.

¹²Neither can Israel stand before his enemies, but he shall flee from them: because he is defiled with the anathema. I will be no more with you, till you destroy him that is guilty of this wickedness.

¹³Arise, sanctify the people, and say to them: Be ye sanctified against tomorrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel: The curse is in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thy enemies, till he be destroyed out of thee, that is defiled with this wickedness.

¹⁴And you shall come in the morning, every one by your tribes: and what tribe soever the lot shall find, it shall come by its kindreds, and the kindred by its houses and the house by the men.

¹⁵And whosoever he be that shall be found guilty of this fact, he shall be burnt with fire, with all his substance, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and hath done wickedness in Israel.

¹⁶Josue, therefore, when he rose in the morning, made Israel to come by their tribes, and the tribe of Juda was found.

¹⁷Which being brought by in families, it was found to be the family of Zare. Bringing that also by the houses, he found it to be Zabdi:

¹⁸And bringing his house man by man, he found Achan, the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda.

¹⁹And Josue said to Achan: My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and confess, and tell me what thou hast done, hide it not.

²⁰And Achan answered Josue, and said to him: Indeed I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.

²¹For I saw among the spoils a scarlet garment, exceeding good, and two hundred sicles of silver, and a golden rule of fifty sicles: and I coveted them, and I took them away, and hid them in the ground in the midst of my tent, and the silver I covered with the earth that I dug up.

²²Josue therefore sent ministers: who running to his tent, found all hid in the same place, together with the silver.

²³And taking them away out of the tent, they brought them to Josue, and to all the children of Israel, and threw them down before the Lord.

²⁴Then Josue, and all Israel with him, took Achan, the son of Zare, and the silver, and the garment, and the golden rule, his sons also, and his daughters, his oxen, and asses, and sheep, the tent also, and all the goods: and brought them to the valley of Achor:

²⁵Where Josue said: Because thou hast troubled us, the Lord trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him: and all things that were his, were consumed with fire.

²⁶And they gathered together upon him a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day. And the wrath of the Lord was turned away from them. And the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor, until this day.

Chapter 8

And the Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise, and go up to the town of Hai: Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land.

²And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils, and all the cattle, you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for the city behind it.

³And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in the night,

⁴And commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go not very far from it: and be ye all ready.

⁵But I, and the rest of the multitude which is with me, will approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall come out against us, we will…