6:20 The rams’ horns sounded 12 and when the army 13 heard the signal, 14 they gave a loud battle cry. 15 The wall collapsed 16 and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. 17 6:21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, 18 including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.
6:1 Now Jericho 19 was shut tightly 20 because of the Israelites. No one was allowed to leave or enter. 21
1 tn The verb is the Piel perfect of the word חָיָה (khayah, “to live”). In the Piel stem it must here mean “preserve alive,” or “allow to live,” rather than make alive.
2 tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”
3 tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”
4 tn Heb “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.
5 tn Heb “under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). The verb employed is חָרַם (kharam, usually in the Hiphil) and the associated noun is חֵרֶם (kherem). See J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276-77, and, for a more thorough discussion, Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible, 28-77.
6 tn Heb “we put them under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). See note at 2:34.
7 tn Heb “city of men.”
8 tn Or “dedicated to the
9 tn Heb “messengers.”
10 tn Heb “Only you keep [away] from what is set apart [to the
11 tn Heb “it is holy to the
12 tc Heb “and the people shouted and they blew the rams’ horns.” The initial statement (“and the people shouted”) seems premature, since the verse goes on to explain that the battle cry followed the blowing of the horns. The statement has probably been accidentally duplicated from what follows. It is omitted in the LXX.
13 tn Heb “the people.”
14 tn Heb “the sound of the horn.”
15 tn Heb “they shouted with a loud shout.”
16 tn Heb “fell in its place.”
17 tn Heb “and the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead, and they captured the city.”
18 tn Heb “all which was in the city.”
19 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
20 tn Heb “was shutting and shut up.” HALOT 2:743 paraphrases, “blocking [any way of access] and blocked [against any who would leave].”
21 tn Heb “there was no one going out and there was no one coming in.”
22 tn Heb “went out.”
23 tn Or “the Ascent of Scorpions” (עַקְרַבִּים [’aqrabbim] means “scorpions” in Hebrew).
24 tn Heb “Their southern border was from the end of the Salt Sea, from the tongue that faces to the south.”
25 tn Heb “listened to.”
26 tn Or “Only.” Here and in v. 18 this word qualifies what precedes (see also v. 7).