Joshua 5–6

CHAPTER 5

The Men of Israel Circumcised

¹Now it happened when all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the ^aCanaanites who were by the sea, ^bheard how Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until ¹they had crossed, that their hearts melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the sons of Israel.

²At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, “Make for yourself ^aflint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.”

³So Joshua made himself flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at ¹Gibeath-haaraloth.

⁴Now this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: ^aall the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way when they came out of Egypt.

⁵For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

⁶For the sons of Israel had walked ^aforty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, were completely destroyed because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, ^bto whom Yahweh had sworn that He would not let them see the land which Yahweh had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁷And their sons whom He raised up in their place, Joshua ¹circumcised; for they were uncircumcised because they had not circumcised them along the way.

⁸Now it happened that when they had completed circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were ¹healed.

⁹Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away ^athe reproach of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called ¹Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰Then the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal and ^acelebrated the Passover on the evening of the ^bfourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho.

¹¹And on the ¹day after the Passover, on ²that very day, they ate some of the yield of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted grain.

^12aThen the manna ceased on the ¹day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the produce of the land of Canaan during that year.

Commander of Yahweh’s Host

¹³Now it happened when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^aa man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?”

¹⁴He said, “No! Rather I indeed come now as commander of the host of Yahweh.” And Joshua ^afell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his slave?”

¹⁵The commander of the host of Yahweh said to Joshua, “^aRemove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

CHAPTER 6

The Destruction of Jericho

¹Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out, and no one came in.

²And Yahweh said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with ^aits king and the valiant warriors.

³“And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days.

⁴“Also seven priests shall carry seven ^atrumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

⁵“And it will be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down ¹beneath itself, and the people will go up every man ²straight ahead.”

⁶So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Carry the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh.”

⁷Then ¹he said to the people, “Go forward, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of Yahweh.”

⁸And so it happened that, when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh passed on forward and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came after them.

⁹And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and ^athe rear guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the trumpets.

¹⁰But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!”

¹¹So he had the ark of Yahweh ¹taken around the city, circling it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹²Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of Yahweh.

^13aAnd the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually and blew the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and ^bthe rear guard came after the ark of Yahweh, and they continued to blow the trumpets.

¹⁴Thus the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did so for six days.

¹⁵Then it happened that on the seventh day they rose early at the ¹breaking of dawn and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times.

¹⁶Now it happened that on the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “^aShout! For Yahweh has given you the city.

¹⁷“And the city shall be ^adevoted to destruction, it and all that is in it belongs to Yahweh; only Rahab the harlot ¹and all who are with her in the house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

¹⁸“But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest as you are devoting them to destruction, you also ^atake some of the things devoted to destruction and make the camp of Israel devoted to destruction and bring trouble on it.

¹⁹“^aBut all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to Yahweh; they shall go into the treasury of Yahweh.”

²⁰So the people shouted, and ¹the priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the ^awall fell down ²beneath itself, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ³ahead, and they took the city.

^21aAnd they devoted to destruction everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

²²Now to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “^aGo into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.”

²³So the young men who were spies went in and ^abrought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel.

^24aBut they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the ¹house of Yahweh.

²⁵However, ^aRahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua preserved alive; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for ^bshe hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶Then Joshua made them swear an oath at that time, saying, “^aCursed before Yahweh is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.”

²⁷So ^aYahweh was with Joshua, and the ^breport about him was in all the land.