CHAPTER 6
1 Forsooth Jericho was enclosed and warded, for the dread of the sons of Israel, and no man durst enter, either go out.
2 And the Lord said to Joshua, Lo! I have given into thine hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the strong men of it.
3 All ye fighters, compass the city once by the day; so ye shall do in six days.
4 And in the seventh day, the priests shall take seven clarions, which be used in the jubilee; and they shall go before the ark of [the] bond of peace; and seven times ye shall compass the city, and the priests shall trump with the clarions.
5 And when the voice of the trump shall sound longer, and more by whiles, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall cry together with greatest cry; and the walls of the city shall fall all-down, and all men shall enter by the place, against which they stand.
6 Therefore Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests, and said to them, Take ye the ark of the bond of peace, and seven other priests take they seven clarions of the jubilee years, and go they before the ark of the Lord.
7 Also Joshua said to the people, Go ye, and compass ye the city, and go ye armed before the ark of the Lord.
8 And when Joshua had ended these words, and the seven priests trumped with seven trumps before the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord,
9 and all the people armed went before, and the tother common people of fighters pursued [or followed] the ark, and all things sounded with the trumps.
10 And Joshua commanded to the people, and said, Ye shall not cry, neither your voice shall be heard, neither any word shall go out of your mouth, till the day come, in which I shall say to you, Cry ye, and make ye noise.
11 Therefore the ark of the Lord compassed the city once by the day, and it turned again into the tents, and dwelled there.
12 Therefore while Joshua rose early in the morrowtide, [the] priests took the ark of the Lord;
13 and seven of the priests took seven clarions, which were used in the jubilee, and the priests went before the ark of the Lord, and trumped; and the people went armed before them. And the tother common people pursued [or followed] the ark, and sounded with trumps.
14 And they compassed the city in the second day once, and turned again into the tents; so they did six days.
15 And in the seventh day they rose early, and compassed the city, as it was ordained, seven times.
16 And when in the seventh compass, the priests sounded with clarions, Joshua said to all Israel, Cry ye, for the Lord hath betaken the city to us;
17 and this city be cursed, either destroyed, and all things that be therein be hallowed to the Lord. Rahab the whore alone live, with all the men that be with her in the house; for she hid the messengers which we sent.
18 And be ye ware, lest ye touch anything of these [things] that be forbidden to you, and ye be guilty of trespassing; and all the tents of Israel be under sin, and be troubled.
19 For whatever thing is of gold, and of silver, and of brazen vessels, and of iron, be it hallowed to the Lord, and be it kept in his treasuries.
20 Then while all the people cried, and the trumps sounded, after that the sound sounded in the ears of the multitude, the walls felled down anon; and each man went up by the place that was against him. And they took the city,
21 and they killed all things that were therein, from man unto woman, from a young child unto an eld [or old] man; also they killed by sharp-ness of sword, oxen, sheep, and asses.
22 Forsooth Joshua said to [the] two men, that were sent spyers, Enter ye into the house of the woman whore, and bring ye forth her, and all things that be hers, as ye made steadfast to her by an oath.
23 And the young men entered in, and they led out Rahab, and her father, and mother, and all her brethren, and all the appurtenance of her, and kindred; and they made them to dwell without the tents of Israel.
24 And the men of Israel burnt the city, and all things that were found therein, except [the] gold, and silver, and brazen vessels, and iron, which they hallowed into the treasury of the Lord.
25 Soothly Joshua made Rahab the whore to live, and her father’s house, and all things that she had; and they dwelled in the midst of Israel, unto this present day; for she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to espy Jericho.
26 In that time Joshua prayed heartily, and said, Cursed before the Lord be the man, that raiseth up and buildeth the city of Jericho! Lay he the founda-ments thereof in his first engendered son, and put he the gates thereof in the last of his free children.
27 Therefore the Lord was with Joshua, and his name was published in each land.