Joshua 6

Israel’s first battle in the Promised Land is won by obedience and trust, not by weapons. God tells Joshua to march around Jericho in silence for six days, then seven times on the seventh, and the walls fall. The chapter also shows God’s judgment on a corrupt city and His mercy to Rahab, who trusted Him.

Joshua 6:1

Jericho had closed its gates in fear of Israel. The city seemed impregnable, a walled fortress blocking the road into the land. The first obstacle Israel meets is one only God can remove.

BSA: tightly shut up (“straitly shut, closed and barred”): The city was bolted from inside, locked down in fear of Israel’s advance.

Hebrew: סֹגֶרֶת (sogeret, H5462) — “shutting up, closing.” The Hebrew piles up two forms of the same word, ‘shut up and shut in’, to stress how completely the city had sealed itself.

Joshua 6:2

Before a single step is taken, the LORD declares the victory already given. The king and his warriors are named so that Joshua will not be intimidated. Israel’s task is to act on a promise, not to earn a win.

BSA: hand (“an open hand; strength, a side or share”): Jericho is placed in Joshua’s open hand as a gift, not seized by his own strength.

Hebrew: נָתַתִּי (natatti, H5414) — “I have given.” The verb is in the completed tense: ‘I have given.’ God speaks of the city as already handed over, though nothing has yet happened.

See also: Joshua 1:3.

Joshua 6:3-5

God’s strange plan: march once around the city daily for six days, then seven times on the seventh, with priests blowing horns before the ark. The long blast and the shout will bring the wall down. The number seven marks it as God’s work, and the ark places His presence at the center.

BSA: collapse (“fall down, crumble”): The wall is not battered down but falls under God’s hand at the appointed signal.

See also: Hebrews 11:30.

Joshua 6:6-7

Joshua passes God’s instructions on to the priests and the people without change. The ark of the covenant, the sign of God’s throne among His people, leads the way, with armed men going ahead of it. Israel follows where God’s presence goes.

BSA: ark (“a chest, a container for the covenant”): The ark held the covenant law, so Israel marches behind the promise God made to them.

Joshua 6:8-9

The procession is carefully ordered: warriors, then seven priests blowing horns, then the ark, then a rear guard. The horns sound continually. Everyone walks in a ring of trust, with the LORD’s ark at the heart of the line.

BSA: rams’ horns (“jubilee trumpets”): These horns were used for solemn announcements, so the march is a proclamation that God is acting.

Hebrew: שׁוֹפְרוֹת הַיּוֹבְלִים (shofarot hayovelim, H7782) — “horns of jubilee, rams’ horns.” The Hebrew name of the horn in verse 4 is tied to the word for jubilee, the year of release. The sound announces that God is setting things right.

See also: Leviticus 25:9.

Joshua 6:10

Joshua orders complete silence until the moment he says shout. For six days the people hear only the horns. Their trust is tested in quiet, with no complaint and no boasting, only waiting on the word of command.

BSA: voice (“sound, utterance”): Not even a murmur was allowed, so the only sound is God’s signal.

Joshua 6:11

On the first day the ark circles the city once, and the army goes back to camp. Nothing visible has changed. Faith here means doing the next small thing God has asked, even when it looks pointless.

See also: Hebrews 11:1.

Joshua 6:12-14

The same pattern repeats each day for six days: one circuit, the horns blowing, then back to camp. Joshua rises early, eager to obey. There is no change of plan and no shortcut. God is training His people in patient, steady obedience.

BSA: got up early (“rose before day, at the break of day”): Joshua starts the day promptly, showing a ready heart to do what God said.

Joshua 6:15

On the seventh day they rise at dawn and march seven times, so the day begins with a longer, more demanding effort. The text stresses that this was the only day with seven circuits. Obedience has been tested; now the moment of God’s action nears.

BSA: dawn (“the beginning of a new day, a time of new light and hope”): The decisive day opens with fresh light, and God’s victory is about to come.

Joshua 6:16

After the seventh circuit the priests sound the horns and Joshua gives the word: shout. The shout rests on a statement of fact, that the LORD has given them the city. Israel shouts not to make it happen, but because God has promised it.

BSA: given (“delivered, entrusted”): The city is entrusted to Israel as a gift from God, not a prize they have won.

Joshua 6:17

Jericho is placed under God’s ban. Everything in it is to be given over to Him and not kept for personal gain. Only Rahab and her household are exempt, since she hid the spies. Her faith saved her.

BSA: devoted (“set apart, dedicated”): The city is set apart wholly for God, not for Israel’s profit.

Hebrew: חֵרֶם (cherem, H2764) — “devoted to God, placed under the ban.” The word means something removed from ordinary use and surrendered completely to God, here as an act of judgment on a city He had long warned.

See also: Deuteronomy 20:16-18; James 2:25.

Joshua 6:18-19

Joshua warns that taking anything under the ban would put Israel itself under the ban. The silver, gold, bronze, and iron are holy and go into God’s treasury. The warning sets up chapter 7, where one man’s disobedience brings trouble on the whole camp.

BSA: disaster (“trouble, calamity”): Sin by one person would bring trouble on the entire community. holy (“set apart, consecrated”): The metals belong to God alone and are not for private use.

Hebrew: וַעֲכַרְתֶּם (va’akhartem, H5916) — “and you bring trouble.” This verb is from the same root as Achor, the valley named for trouble where the sin of Achan is dealt with in the next chapter.

See also: Joshua 7:1.

Joshua 6:20

The people shout at the long horn blast, and the wall falls. Then they rush straight in and take the city. The fall of the wall is God’s doing. Israel’s part was to obey, step by step, and then to move forward in faith.

BSA: shout (“with a great shout, a loud cry”): It is a united cry of victory and trust in what God has already declared.

Hebrew: תְּרוּעָה (teruah, H8643) — “a shout, a trumpet-like cry.” This word is used for a war cry and for a shout of worship, so the battle shout is also an act of praise to God.

See also: Hebrews 11:30.

Joshua 6:21

The city and all its inhabitants and livestock are put to the sword under God’s ban. This is hard to read. The Bible presents it as God’s judgment on a people long steeped in wickedness, carried out at His command and not as a pattern for later times. Christians wrestle with it, and it leaves us in awe of God’s holiness.

BSA: devoted (“utterly destroyed, set apart for destruction”): The word shows the destruction was an act surrendering all to God, not a hunt for plunder.

See also: Genesis 15:16.

Joshua 6:22-23

Joshua keeps the promise the spies made. He sends those same men to bring Rahab out with her parents, brothers, and everyone who belonged to her. She is saved through a promise kept. Her family is settled outside the camp for now, in a place of safety.

BSA: promised (“swore an oath”): The spies had taken an oath, so Israel’s word to Rahab was binding before God. bring out (“rescue, deliver”): Rahab is brought out of the doomed city, a picture of deliverance.

See also: Joshua 2:12-14.

Joshua 6:24

The city is burned, but the valuables are not kept. The silver, gold, bronze, and iron go into the LORD’s treasury. Israel does not profit from the victory. What belongs to God is returned to God.

BSA: treasury (“storehouse, depository”): The treasure is stored for the service of God’s worship, not for private gain.

Joshua 6:25

Joshua spares Rahab and her whole household because she hid the messengers. Though a Canaanite and a prostitute, she is welcomed in and lived among Israel. Her faith was real, and her story is told as a lasting sign of God’s mercy to outsiders who trust Him.

BSA: hid (“secreted, protected”): Rahab’s hiding of the spies was a costly act that showed where her loyalty now lay.

See also: Hebrews 11:31; Matthew 1:5.

Joshua 6:26

Joshua swears that anyone who rebuilds Jericho will pay with his sons. The ruins are to stand as a lasting reminder of what God did here. The oath comes true centuries later, in the days of King Ahab.

BSA: Cursed (“utterly doomed, under God’s judgment”): The rebuilder would stand under God’s judgment for defying the memorial of His victory.

Hebrew: אָרוּר (arur, H779) — “cursed, under a ban.” This is the opposite of blessed. It names someone cut off from God’s favor.

See also: 1 Kings 16:34.

Joshua 6:27

The chapter ends by saying the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread across the land. His standing came from God’s presence and not from his own skill. What made the difference was that God was with him.

BSA: with (“in close relationship, near to”): God’s presence with Joshua was close and personal, the secret behind his success.

See also: Joshua 1:5.