Joshua 6:17-27

17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted[a] to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.
18 But keep away from the devoted things, 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 and bring trouble on it.
19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.
21 They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed 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 who had spied out 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.”
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. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.
25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed 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.”
27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

Joshua 6:17-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 6

In this chapter Joshua is assured, though Jericho was closely shut up, it should be delivered into his hands, Jos 6:1,2; and he is directed, with the army, to go round the city six days together, seven priests bearing the ark of the Lord, with seven trumpets sounding; and on the seventh day to go round it seven times in like manner, when its wall should fall, Jos 6:3-5; which order Joshua communicated to the priests, and to the people, and which was put into execution by them, with some other instructions he gave them, Jos 6:6-16; particularly that the city, and all in it, should be devoted to the Lord, and none spared, but Rahab and her family, Jos 6:17-19; the success was according to the assurance given by the Lord, Jos 6:20; when all in the city were destroyed, and that was burnt with fire, and the gold, silver, brass, and iron, brought into the house of the Lord, and Rahab and her father's household were saved alive, Jos 6:21-25; and the chapter is closed with an adjuration of Joshua, cursing the man that should rebuild the city; and with this observation, that the fame of Joshua upon this was spread abroad throughout the country, Jos 6:26,27.

Cross References 27

  • 1. ver 21; Leviticus 27:28; Deuteronomy 20:17; Isaiah 13:5; Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 34:2,5; Malachi 4:6
  • 2. S Joshua 2:1
  • 3. ver 25; Joshua 2:4
  • 4. Joshua 7:1; 1 Chronicles 2:7
  • 5. Joshua 7:12
  • 6. Joshua 7:25,26
  • 7. ver 24; Numbers 31:22
  • 8. Leviticus 25:9; Judges 6:34; Judges 7:22; 1 Kings 1:41; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 27:13; Jeremiah 4:21; Jeremiah 42:14; Amos 2:2
  • 9. S ver 5; S Joshua 10
  • 10. Hebrews 11:30
  • 11. S ver 17
  • 12. S Deuteronomy 20:16
  • 13. S Genesis 42:9; S Joshua 2:4
  • 14. S Numbers 21:32
  • 15. Joshua 2:14; Hebrews 11:31
  • 16. S Joshua 2:13
  • 17. S Numbers 31:10
  • 18. S ver 19
  • 19. S Deuteronomy 13:16
  • 20. Judges 1:25
  • 21. S Joshua 2:1; Hebrews 11:31
  • 22. S ver 17; S Joshua 2:6
  • 23. 1 Samuel 14:24
  • 24. S Numbers 5:21
  • 25. 1 Kings 16:34
  • 26. S Genesis 39:2; S Numbers 14:43; Joshua 1:5
  • 27. Joshua 9:1; 1 Chronicles 14:17

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. 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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