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6
The walls of Jericho collapsed and the Israelis captured the city.
1 Meanwhile, the guards of Jericho shut the gates of the city tightly, because they were afraid of the Israeli army. No one was allowed to go into the city or go out of it. 2 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Listen to what I say I am going to enable your army [SYN] to capture/conquer [MTY] Jericho and its king and its soldiers. 3 So your army must march around the city for six days, once each day. 4 Tell seven priests to march around with them. Each priest must carry a trumpet. Four other priests must carry the sacred chest, and they must walk behind the priests who are carrying the trumpets. On the seventh day, the army must march around the city seven times, and the priests must be blowing the trumpets while they march. 5 After they have all marched around the city seven times, the priests must blow their trumpets once, very loudly. When the Israeli people/soldiers hear that, they must shout loudly. Then the wall of the city will collapse, and all the Israeli people/soldiers will go straight into the city.”
6 So Joshua summoned the priests and said to them, “Tell four priests to carry the chest that contains the Ten Commandments that Yahweh gave to us. Tell seven other priests to carry trumpets and walk in front of them.” 7 And Joshua told the soldiers, “Start marching! March around the city, with several soldiers with weapons marching in front. Behind them will march the seven priests with trumpets, and behind them will march the four priests carrying Yahweh's sacred chest.”
8 After Joshua told that to the army, the seven priests, each carrying a sacred trumpet, started marching, blowing their trumpets. The four priests who were carrying Yahweh's sacred chest followed them. 9 The group of soldiers carrying weapons marched in front of the priests who were blowing their trumpets, and the rest of the soldiers followed the four men carrying the chest. While they were all marching, the seven priests were blowing their trumpets. 10 But the rest of the people were silent, because Joshua had commanded them, “Do not make a war cry. Do not yell or say anything until the day when I tell you to shout. On that day, you must shout loudly!” 11 So the men carrying Yahweh's sacred chest and all the others did what Joshua told them to do. They marched around the city once. Then they all returned to the camp and stayed there that night.
12 The next morning, Joshua and the priests got up early, and the four priests carried Yahweh's sacred chest again. 13 The seven priests who were carrying trumpets went in front of the men carrying the chest. The seven priests were blowing their trumpets as they marched. The group of soldiers carrying weapons went in front of all the others, and the rest of the army followed all the others. All the time, the seven priests were blowing their trumpets. 14 So on that second day they again marched around the city once and then returned to the camp. They did the same thing for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at dawn, and they all marched around the city the same way that they had done before, but this time they marched around the city seven times. 16 As they were marching around the seventh time, when the priests were about to blow the long/loud blast on their trumpets, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout, because Yahweh is going to enable you to capture the city! 17 Yahweh has declared that you must destroy [IDI] the city and everything in it to show that it belongs to him. You must spare only Rahab the prostitute and the others who are in her house, because she hid the spies whom we sent there. 18 And because Yahweh has declared that everything must be destroyed [IDI], you must not take [EUP] any of the things in the city. If you take anything, you will cause Yahweh to destroy our own camp and cause terrible things to happen to us. 19 But all the silver and gold and articles made from iron and bronze that you find, you must set apart for Yahweh. You must put those things in his treasury.”
20 So they did what Joshua told them to do. When the priests blew a long blast on their trumpets, the people/army shouted loudly, and the wall of the city collapsed! Then the Israeli soldiers rushed in and captured the city. 21 They killed [IDI] every living thing in the city—men and women, young people and old people, even cattle and sheep and donkeys.
22 Then Joshua said to the two men ◄who had spied on/whom he had sent to learn all they could about► the land, “Go to the prostitute's house. Bring her out, along with all her family, just you solemnly promised to her.” 23-25 So those two spies/men went into Rahab's house and brought her out. They also brought out her father and mother and her brothers, and all the rest of her family. Joshua's men spared Rahab the prostitute. They also did not kill all her relatives, because she had hidden and protected the spies/men whom Joshua had sent to Jericho. The two men brought them all out and put them in a place outside the camp of the Israelis. Rahab still lives among us Israeli people. Then the soldiers gathered the articles made from silver, gold, bronze, and iron that they found and they put them all into Yahweh's treasury. But they burned everything else that was in the city.
26 At that time, Joshua declared this very solemnly: “Yahweh will curse/punish anyone who tries to rebuild this city, Jericho. When that person lays/builds its foundation, his oldest son will die. And when he finishes building the city wall and sets up its gates, his youngest son will die.”
27 Because of what happened that day, it was clear that Yahweh was with/helped Joshua, and Joshua became famous throughout the land.

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© 2008-2016 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.