Joshua 6:12–21

¹²Joshua got up early the next morning. The priests went and got the ark of the Lord. ¹³The seven priests who were carrying the seven trumpets started out. They marched in front of the ark of the Lord. They blew the trumpets. Some of the fighting men marched ahead of them. The others followed behind the ark and guarded all of them. The priests kept blowing the trumpets.

¹⁴On the second day they marched around the city once. Then the men returned to camp. They did all of those things for six days.

¹⁵On the seventh day, they got up at sunrise. They marched around the city, just as they had done before. But on that day they went around it seven times.

¹⁶On the seventh time around, the priests blew a long blast on the trumpets.

Then Joshua gave a command to the men. He said, “Shout! The Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷The city and everything that is in it must be set apart to the Lord in a special way to be destroyed. But the prostitute Rahab and all those who are with her in her house must be spared. That’s because she hid the spies we sent.

¹⁸“But keep away from the things that have been set apart to the Lord. If you take any of them, you will be destroyed. And you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. You will cause it to be destroyed. ¹⁹All of the silver and gold is holy. It is set apart to the Lord. So are all of the articles that are made out of bronze and iron. All of those things must be added to the treasures that are kept in the Lord’s house.”

²⁰The priests blew the trumpets. As soon as the fighting men heard the sound, they gave a loud shout. Then the wall fell down. Every man charged straight in. So they took the city. ²¹They set it apart to the Lord in a special way to be destroyed. They destroyed every living thing in it with their swords. They killed men and women. They wiped out young people and old people. They destroyed cattle, sheep and donkeys.