17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted[a](A) to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute(B) and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid(C) the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things,(D) 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(E) and bring trouble(F) on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron(G) are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

20 When the trumpets sounded,(H) the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout,(I) the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.(J) 21 They devoted(K) the city to the Lord and destroyed(L) 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(M) who had spied out(N) 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.(O) 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.(P) They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

24 Then they burned the whole city(Q) and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron(R) into the treasury of the Lord’s house.(S) 25 But Joshua spared(T) Rahab the prostitute,(U) with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho(V)—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath:(W) “Cursed(X) 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.”(Y)

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

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Footnotes

  1. 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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