The Fall of Jericho

Jericho is shut up tight: no one goes out, and no one comes in. The LORD gives Joshua a baffling plan. For six days, the men of war march around the city once a day, with seven priests blowing seven trumpets in front of the ark of the covenant; the people, meanwhile, stay silent. On the seventh day, they get up at dawn and march around the city seven times. On the seventh time, Joshua shouts: “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!” The people shout, the trumpets sound, and the wall collapses. Israel goes up into the city, every man straight ahead. Jericho is devoted to destruction; the silver, the gold, and the articles of bronze and iron go into the treasury of the LORD. Only Rahab is spared, along with her whole family, because she had hidden the spies. Joshua pronounces a curse on anyone who rebuilds Jericho, and his fame spreads throughout the land.