1Now Jericho was shut up tight because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.
2The LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and its mighty soldiers."
3"You shall go around the city, all you men of war, and march around the city once. You shall do this for six days."
4"Seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day you shall go around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets."
5"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. Then the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up, each man straight ahead of him."
6So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark of the LORD."
7And he said to the people, "Go on, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on in front of the ark of the LORD."
8When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns went on before the LORD and blew the trumpets. The ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.
9The armed men went in front of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests went on blowing the trumpets.
10Joshua had commanded the people, "You shall not shout, or make any noise with your voice. Let no word come out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout."
11So the ark of the LORD went around the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp, and stayed the night in the camp.
12Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
13Seven priests carrying seven trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark of the LORD went on without stopping, and blew the trumpets. The armed men went in front of them, but the rear guard came after the ark of the LORD, while the priests went on blowing the trumpets.
14On the second day they went around the city once, and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
15On the seventh day they got up early, about the break of day, and went around the city in the same way seven times. Only on that day did they go around the city seven times.
16At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city."
17"The city shall be devoted to destruction for the LORD, it and everything in it. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent."
18"And you, be sure to keep yourselves away from the devoted thing. If you take any of the devoted thing, you will bring destruction on yourselves, and you will make the camp of Israel a curse, and bring trouble on it."
19"But all the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD. They shall go into the treasury of the LORD."
20So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, the wall fell down flat. So the people went up into the city, each man straight ahead of him, and they took the city.
21They completely destroyed everything in the city with the edge of the sword: man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey.
22But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out the woman from there, and all that she has, as you swore to her."
23So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had. They brought out all her relatives, and left them outside the camp of Israel.
24They burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and the gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
25Joshua let Rahab the prostitute live, with her father's household and all that she had. She lives in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26At that time Joshua made them swear, saying, "Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son."
27So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread through all the land.