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Joshua 5-6
Contemporary English Version

5 The Amorite kings west of the Jordan River and the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea lost their courage and their will to fight, when they heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River to let Israel go across.

Israel Gets Ready To Celebrate Passover

2 While Israel was camped at Gilgal, the Lord said, “Joshua, make some flint knives[a] and circumcise the rest of the Israelite men and boys.”[b]

3 Joshua made the knives, then circumcised those men and boys at Haaraloth Hill.[c] 4-7 (A) This had to be done, because none of Israel's baby boys had been circumcised during the 40 years that Israel had wandered through the desert after leaving Egypt.

And why had they wandered for 40 years? It was because right after they left Egypt, the men in the army had disobeyed the Lord. And the Lord had said, “None of you men will ever live to see the land that I promised Israel. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and someday your children will live there, but not before you die here in the desert.”

8 Everyone who had been circumcised needed time to heal, and they stayed in camp.

9 The Lord told Joshua, “It was a disgrace for my people to be slaves in Egypt, but now I have taken away that disgrace.” So the Israelites named the place Gilgal,[d] and it still has that name.

10 (B) Israel continued to camp at Gilgal in the desert near Jericho, and on the fourteenth day of the same month,[e] they celebrated Passover.

11-12 (C) The next day, God stopped sending the Israelites manna[f] to eat each morning, and they started eating food grown in the land of Canaan. They ate roasted grain[g] and thin bread[h] made of the barley they had gathered from nearby fields.

Israel Captures Jericho

13 One day, Joshua was near Jericho when he saw a man standing some distance in front of him. The man was holding a sword, so Joshua walked up to him and asked, “Are you on our side or on our enemies' side?”

14 “Neither,” he answered. “I am here because I am the commander of the Lord's army.”

Joshua fell to his knees and bowed down to the ground. “I am your servant,” he said. “Tell me what to do.”

15 “Take off your sandals,” the commander answered. “This is a holy place.”

So Joshua took off his sandals.

6 Meanwhile, the people of Jericho had been locking the gates in their town wall because they were afraid of the Israelites. No one could go out or come in.

2-3 The Lord said to Joshua:

With my help, you and your army will defeat the king of Jericho and his army, and you will capture the town. Here is how to do it: March slowly around Jericho once a day for six days. 4 Take along the sacred chest and tell seven priests to walk in front of it, carrying trumpets.[i]

But on the seventh day, march slowly around the town seven times while the priests blow their trumpets. 5 Then the priests will blast on their trumpets, and everyone else will shout. The wall will fall down, and your soldiers can go straight in from every side.

6 Joshua called the priests together and said, “Take the chest and tell seven priests to carry trumpets and march ahead of it.”

7-10 Next, he gave the army their orders: “March slowly around Jericho. A few of you will go ahead of the chest to guard it, but most of you will follow it. Don't shout the battle cry or yell or even talk until the day I tell you to. Then let out a shout!”

As soon as Joshua finished giving the orders, the army started marching. One group of soldiers led the way, with seven priests marching behind them and blowing trumpets. Then came the priests carrying the chest, followed by the rest of the soldiers. 11 They obeyed Joshua's orders and carried the chest once around the town before returning to camp for the night.

12-14 Early the next morning, Joshua and everyone else started marching around Jericho in the same order as the day before. One group of soldiers was in front, followed by the seven priests with trumpets and the priests who carried the chest. The rest of the army came next. The seven priests blew their trumpets while everyone marched slowly around Jericho and back to camp. They did this once a day for six days.

15 On the seventh day, the army got up at daybreak. They marched slowly around Jericho the same as they had done for the past six days, except on this day they went around seven times. 16 Then the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua yelled:

Get ready to shout! The Lord will let you capture this town. 17 But you must destroy it and everything in it, to show that it now belongs to the Lord.[j] The woman Rahab helped the spies we sent,[k] so protect her and the others who are inside her house. But kill everyone else in the town. 18-19 The silver and gold and everything made of bronze and iron belong to the Lord and must be put in his treasury. Be careful to follow these instructions, because if you see something you want and take it, the Lord will destroy Israel. And it will be all your fault.[l]

20 (D) The priests blew their trumpets again, and the soldiers shouted as loud as they could. The walls of Jericho fell flat. Then the soldiers rushed up the hill, went straight into the town, and captured it. 21-25 (E) They killed everyone, men and women, young and old, everyone except Rahab and the others in her house. They even killed every cow, sheep, and donkey.

Joshua said to the two men who had been spies, “Rahab kept you safe when I sent you to Jericho. We promised to protect her and her family, and we will keep that promise. Now go into her house and bring them out.”

The two men went into Rahab's house and brought her out, along with her father and mother, her brothers, and her other relatives. Rahab and her family had to stay in a place just outside the Israelite army camp.[m] But later they were allowed to live among the Israelites, and her descendants still do.

The Israelites took the silver and gold and the things made of bronze and iron and put them with the rest of the treasure that was kept at the Lord's house.[n] Finally, they set fire to Jericho and everything in it.

26 (F) After Jericho was destroyed, Joshua warned the people, “Someday a man will rebuild Jericho, but the Lord will put a curse on him, and the man's oldest son will die when he starts to build the town wall. And by the time he finishes the wall and puts gates in it, all his children will be dead.”[o]

27 The Lord helped Joshua in everything he did, and Joshua was famous everywhere in Canaan.

Footnotes

  1. 5.2 flint knives: Flint is a stone that can be chipped until it forms a very sharp edge.
  2. 5.2 circumcise … men and boys: They could not celebrate Passover unless they were circumcised (see Exodus 12.43-49).
  3. 5.3 Haaraloth Hill: Or “Foreskin Hill.”
  4. 5.9 Gilgal: In Hebrew “Gilgal” sounds like “take away.”
  5. 5.10 the same month: See the note at 4.19.
  6. 5.11,12 manna: The special food that God provided for the Israelites while they were in the desert for 40 years. It was about the size of a small seed, and it appeared on the ground during the night, except on the Sabbath. It was gathered early in the morning, ground up, and then baked or boiled (see Exodus 16.13-36; Numbers 11.4-9).
  7. 5.11,12 roasted grain: Roasted grain was made by cooking the grain in a dry pan or on a flat rock, or by holding a bunch of grain stalks over a fire.
  8. 5.11,12 thin bread: Bread made without yeast. Israelites were not supposed to eat bread made with yeast for the week following Passover. That week is called the Festival of Thin Bread (see Exodus 12.14-20; 13.3-7).
  9. 6.4 trumpets: These were hollowed-out ram's horns.
  10. 6.17 destroy … now belongs to the Lord: Destroying a city and everything in it, including its people and animals, showed that it belonged to the Lord and could no longer be used by humans.
  11. 6.17 sent: See 2.1,21.
  12. 6.18,19 Be careful … fault: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Don't keep any of it for yourself. If you do, the Lord will destroy both you and Israel.”
  13. 6.21-25 camp: Rahab and her family were Canaanites and were considered unclean. If they stayed in the Israelite army camp, the Lord would not help the Israelite army in battle (see Deuteronomy 23.9-14). However, Rahab and her family later became part of Israel.
  14. 6.21-25 the Lord's house: A name for the place of worship, which at that time was the sacred tent.
  15. 6.26 by the time … dead: Or “when he puts gates into the town wall, his youngest son will die.”
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Joshua 5-6
New International Version

5 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast(A) heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they[a] had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear(B) and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal

2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives(C) and circumcise(D) the Israelites again.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.[b]

4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age(E)—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt.(F) 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness(G) forty years(H) until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us,(I) a land flowing with milk and honey.(J) 7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.(K)

9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal[c](L) to this day.

10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month,(M) while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.(N) 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land:(O) unleavened bread(P) and roasted grain.(Q) 12 The manna stopped the day after[d] they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.(R)

The Fall of Jericho

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man(S) standing in front of him with a drawn sword(T) in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown(U) to the ground(V) in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[e] have for his servant?”

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”(W) And Joshua did so.

6 Now the gates of Jericho(X) were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered(Y) Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns(Z) in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.(AA) 5 When you hear them sound a long blast(AB) on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout;(AC) then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.”(AD) 7 And he ordered the army, “Advance(AE)! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark(AF) of the Lord.”

8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard(AG) followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!(AH)” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.

12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.(AI) 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!(AJ) 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted[f](AK) to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute(AL) and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid(AM) the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things,(AN) so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction(AO) and bring trouble(AP) on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron(AQ) are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

20 When the trumpets sounded,(AR) the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout,(AS) the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.(AT) 21 They devoted(AU) the city to the Lord and destroyed(AV) with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

22 Joshua said to the two men(AW) who had spied out(AX) the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.(AY)” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her.(AZ) They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

24 Then they burned the whole city(BA) and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron(BB) into the treasury of the Lord’s house.(BC) 25 But Joshua spared(BD) Rahab the prostitute,(BE) with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho(BF)—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath:(BG) “Cursed(BH) before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

“At the cost of his firstborn son
    he will lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
    he will set up its gates.”(BI)

27 So the Lord was with Joshua,(BJ) and his fame spread(BK) throughout the land.

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 5:1 Another textual tradition we
  2. Joshua 5:3 Gibeath Haaraloth means the hill of foreskins.
  3. Joshua 5:9 Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew for roll.
  4. Joshua 5:12 Or the day
  5. Joshua 5:14 Or lord
  6. Joshua 6:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 18 and 21.
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