Passage

Joshua 6.17-21

Book: Joshua · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"15. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. 16. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for Jehovah hath given you the city."

"17. And the city shall be devoted, even it and all that is therein, to Jehovah: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18. But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when ye have devoted it, ye take of the devoted thing; so would ye make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. 19. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy unto Jehovah: they shall come into the treasury of Jehovah. 20. So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword."

"22. And Joshua said unto the two men that had spied out the land, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. 23. And the young men the spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; all her kindred also they brought out; and they set them without the camp of Israel." (Joshua 6:15-23, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"15. On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times. 16. At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for Yahweh has given you the city!"

"17. The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18. But as for you, only keep yourselves from what is devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so you would make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. 19. But all the silver, gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to Yahweh. They shall come into Yahweh’s treasury.” 20. So the people shouted and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight in front of him, and they took the city. 21. They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword."

"22. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out from there, as you swore to her.” 23. The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all of her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel." (Joshua 6:15-23, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"15. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. 16. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city."

"17. And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. ^{accursed: or, devoted} 18. And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. ^{accursed: or, devoted} ^{a curse: or, devoted} 19. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD. ^{consecrated: Heb. holiness} 20. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. ^{flat: Heb. under it} 21. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword."

"22. But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. 23. And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. ^{kindred: Heb. families}" (Joshua 6:15-23, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"15. And it cometh to pass, on the seventh day, that they rise early, at the ascending of the dawn, and compass the city, according to this manner, seven times; (only, on that day they have compassed the city seven times); 16. and it cometh to pass, at the seventh time, the priests have blown with the trumpets, and Joshua saith unto the people, 'Shout ye, for Jehovah hath given to you the city;"

"17. and the city hath been devoted, it and all that [is] in it, to Jehovah; only Rahab the harlot doth live, she and all who [are] with her in the house, for she hid the messengers whom we sent; 18. and surely ye have kept from the devoted thing, lest ye devote [yourselves], and have taken from the devoted thing, and have made the camp of Israel become a devoted thing, and have troubled it; 19. and all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, holy they [are] to Jehovah; into the treasury of Jehovah they come.' 20. And the people shout, and blow with the trumpets, and it cometh to pass when the people hear the voice of the trumpet, that the people shout, a great shout, and the wall falleth under it, and the people goeth up into the city, each over-against him, and they capture the city; 21. and they devote all that [is] in the city, from man even unto woman, from young even unto aged, even unto ox, and sheep, and ass, by the mouth of the sword."

"22. And to the two men who are spying the land Joshua said, 'Go into the house of the woman, the harlot, and bring out thence the woman, and all whom she hath, as ye have sworn to her.' 23. And the young man, the spies, go in and bring out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all whom she hath; yea, all her families they have brought out, and place them at the outside of the camp of Israel." (Joshua 6:15-23, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Joshua, executing the conquest commission
Audience: Israel; narratively, all covenant-Israel
Location: Jericho, in the Jordan Valley
Time period: beginning of the conquest, c. 1406 BC

Theological reading

Jericho is the paradigmatic narrative-application of the conquest [[H2763 - charam|charam]]. The pericope binds four theologically-load-bearing features: (1) the charam is divinely-authorized and city-specific, Israel does not initiate unilaterally; (2) the personal-pivot escape-hatch is operative, Rahab and her household are explicitly carved out (vv. 17, 22-23) because she identified with YHWH (Josh 2:11), and she is incorporated into Israel and named in the Davidic / Messianic genealogy (Mt 1:5); (3) the spoils-to-YHWH clause removes economic-incentive, silver, gold, copper, iron go to YHWH's treasury (v. 19), not to enriching the warriors; (4) the internal-Israelite discipline, Achan's violation of the charam in Josh 7 brings the cherem-judgment back onto Israel itself, demonstrating that the framework is not Israelite-license-against-outgroup but covenantal-jurisprudence symmetrically applied. The hyperbolic-totality language ("all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old") sits in the genre of ANE-warfare-rhetoric (compare Merneptah Stele, Mesha Stele) where maximal-totality formulae mark rhetorical-emphasis rather than journalistic body-count; the same Josh 11 closing claim of "none left breathing" is followed by Judges and 1 Kings showing continuing Canaanite populations. See Canaanite Conquest Objection Defeater for the full apologetic treatment and Canaanite Conquest and Herem for the doctrinal landscape.

Key words

H2763 - charam, yaḥarimu, the charam execution-verb at v. 21; the conquest-mode of the verb.
H2764 - cherem, the noun-counterpart at vv. 17-18 ("the city shall be devoted... the devoted thing").

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.