Joshua 6 is the sixth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

, with additions by the high priests

Eleazar Eleazar (; ) or Elʽazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from cr ...

and

Phinehas According to the Hebrew Bible, Phinehas or Phineas (; , ''Phinees'', ) was a priest during the Israelites’ Exodus journey. The grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar, the High Priests (), he distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim with h ...

,Gilad, Elon
Who Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prophets?
''Haaretz'', June 25, 2015. Summary: The paean to King Josiah and exalted descriptions of the ancient Israelite empires beg the thought that he and his scribes lie behind the Deuteronomistic History. but modern scholars view it as part of the

Deuteronomistic History The Deuteronomist, abbreviated as either Dtr or simply D, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of the Book of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as the Deutero ...

, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to

2 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the book ...

, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter focuses on the

Battle of Jericho The Battle of Jericho, as described in the Biblical Book of Joshua, was the first battle fought by the Israelites in the course of the conquest of Canaan. According to , the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched around the city walls ...

under the leadership of

, a part of a section comprising Joshua 5:13–12:24 about the conquest of Canaan.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. It is divided into 27 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

including 4Q47 (4QJosh; 200–100 BCE) with extant verses 5–10.Dead sea scrolls - Joshua
/ref> Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

(originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century) and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century). Fragments of the

Greek text containing this chapter is found in manuscripts such as Washington Manuscript I (5th century CE), and a reduced version of the Septuagint text is found in the illustrated

Joshua Roll The Joshua Roll is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript of highly unusual format, probably of the 10th century Macedonian Renaissance, believed to have been created by artists of the imperial workshops in Constantinople, and is now held in the V ...

.Facsimiles of Illuminated Manuscripts of the Medieval Period
Only contains Joshua chapter II to the end of chapter X

Analysis

The narrative of Israelites conquering the land of Canaan comprises verses 5:13 to 12:24 of the Book of Joshua and has the following outline: :A. Jericho (5:13–6:27) ::1. Joshua and the Commander of the Lord's Army (5:13–15) ::2. Instructions for Capturing the City (6:1–5) ::3. Obeying the Instructions (6:6–21) ::4. The Deliverance of Rahab's Family and the City's Destruction (6:22–25) ::5. Curse and Renown (6:26–27) :B. Achan and Ai (7:1–8:29) :C. Renewal at Mount Ebal (8:30–35) :D. The Gibeonite Deception (9:1–27) :E. The Campaign in the South (10:1–43) :F. The Campaign in the North and Summary List of Kings (11:1–12:24)

Instructions for the battle (6:1–5)

The account of the attack on Jericho follows the commissioning scene (

Joshua 5 Joshua 5 is the fifth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition, the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas, ...

:13–15) with a note (verse 1) that the people of Jericho were gripped with fear (cf.

Joshua 2 Joshua 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition, the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phine ...

:24), so the city was 'shut up inside and out'. The instructions in verse 2–5 from God is reported directly, rather than through the commander, beginning as a battle plan but then transforming into an extended act of worship: the men of war were to march around the city once a day for six days, together with priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant and seven priests going ahead of the ark carrying ram's horn trumpets, and then on the seventh day they all to circumambulate Jericho for seven times before the priests blew the trumpets long and all men shout loudly. With the extended blast of trumpet and the great noise of shouting, God promised that the walls of Jericho would fall, allowing the Israelites to get into the city and destroy it. The ark itself represents God's presence in Israel's Holy War (cf. 1 Samuel 4:1-3).

Verse 5

: od said to Joshua:''"And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him."'' *"Ram's horn"" from he, קרן היובל, '' ha-'', for "''

shofar A shofar ( ; from he, שׁוֹפָר, ) is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying ...

''" is only used here in the whole Hebrew Bible.

The Destruction of Jericho (6:6–27)

The whole procedure before the actual battle is an act of religious obedience and devotion without military realism to emphasize that in this primary account of Israel's Holy War the victory belong to YHWH. In contrast to the triumphant victories in the Transjordanian Holy War (Deuteronomy 2:26–3:11, especially 2:31), a new significance and solemnity is presented here about the taking of Jericho, as the 'first fruit' of the conquest of the promised land. The prominence of the number seven stands out (seven trumpets, verse 8; days, seven circuits on the seventh day, verses 14–15; cf. verse 4), as also elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 1:1–2:4; 4:24) and in the ancient literature such as those of Ugarit. The theology of the ''herem'', or 'ban', at the centre of the narrative, and of the Holy War, was also known outside Israel (King Mesha of Moab wrote of having laid Israelites under the ''herem'', on the mid-ninth century Moabite Stone), with its implications detailed in verses 17, 21 (cf. Deuteronomy 20:16–18 for the law): all living creatures are to be put to death, and all the city's wealth is to be devoted to God by being placed in the 'treasury of the LORD' (that is, in any sanctuary of YHWH). The battle story contains a clear note about the protection given to Rahab and her family (verses 22–25), according to the commitment made in

chapter 2 Chapter Two, Chapter 2, or Chapter II may refer to: Film, television, and theatre * ''Chapter Two'' (play), a 1977 play by Neil Simon * ''Chapter Two'' (film), a 1979 adaptation of Neil Simon's play Television episodes * "Chapter 2" (''American H ...

Verse 26

''Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, "Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates."''

NKJV The New King James Version (NKJV) is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson, now HarperCollins. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being "scrupulously faithful to the origin ...

Joshua's curse of Jericho in this verse will be grimly echoed in 1 Kings 16:34.

Archaeology

The site of

ancient Jericho Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

was excavated by: *

Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

(1868) with the British Palestine Exploration Fund. *

Ernst Sellin Ernst Sellin (26 May 1867 in Alt Schwerin – 1 January 1946 in Epichnellen bei Eisenach) was a German Protestant theologian. Sellin studied theology and oriental languages. During 1897–1908 he taught at the Protestant faculty of theology in ...

and

Carl Watzinger Carl Watzinger (9 June 1877 in Darmstadt – 8 December 1948 in Tübingen) was a German archaeologist, who with Ernst Sellin, worked on uncovering the site of the ancient city of Jericho (1907–09), and earlier, with Heinrich Kohl (1877–1914), c ...

(1907, 1909, 1911) with the German Oriental Society. *

John Garstang John Garstang (5 May 1876 – 12 September 1956) was a British archaeologist of the Ancient Near East, especially Egypt, Sudan, Anatolia and the southern Levant. He was the younger brother of Professor Walter Garstang, FRS, a marine bi ...

(1930–1936) with the University of Liverpool and the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem *

Kathleen Kenyon Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon, (5 January 1906 – 24 August 1978) was a British archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. She led excavations of Tell es-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho, from 1952 to 1958, and has been called ...

(1952–1958) *The Italian-Palestinian Expedition (1997–2017) by "La Sapienza" University and Palestinian MOTA-DACH under the direction of

Lorenzo Nigro Lorenzo Nigro (born 1967) is an Italian archaeologist. He is Associated Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology (since 2002), is the Coordinator of the Oriental Section of the Department of Sciences of Antiquities of Sapienza University of Rome (Fac ...

, Nicolò Marchetti, Hamdan Taha, Jehad Yasine etc.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translations: *
Yehoshua - Joshua - Chapter 56 (Judaica Press)
Hebrew text and English translation ith_Rashi's_commentary.html"_;"title="Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary">Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentaryat_Chabad.org *__Christian_translations: *
''Online_Bible''_at_GospelHall.org
(ESV,_KJV,_Darby,_American_Standard_Version,_Bible_in_Basic_English) *
Joshua_chapter_6._Bible_Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joshua_06 Book_of_Joshua_chapters.html" ;"title="Joshua_6.html" ;"title="Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary.html" ;"title="Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org * Christian translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) *
Joshua chapter 6. Bible Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joshua 06 Book of Joshua chapters">06 Biblical Jericho