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Joshua 6:1

in Joshua 6

Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

KJV

Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

This verse in Joshua 6

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
This verse is strictly parenthetical. It is inserted to explain the declaration commenced Jos 5:14, and interrupted by Joshua’s question and obeisance Jos 5:14-15, but resumed in Jos 6:2. Straitly shut up - See the margin, i. e., not only shut, but barred and bolted.

This site's exposition

Now Jericho was straitly shut

on Joshua 6:1-2

Verse 1 stands outside the action to explain it. The city is barred from the inside, so nobody is coming out to fight and nobody is getting in to help, and Barnes reads the verse as a parenthesis that resumes the captain's word broken off at 5:14. The promise at verse 2 is in the past tense, I have given into thine hand Jericho, spoken before a man has moved. Joshua repeats that tense back to the people at verse 16 while the wall is still standing.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

It did shut up, and it was shut up (so it is in the margin); it did shut up itself, being strongly fortified both by art and nature, and it was shut up by the obstinacy and resolution of the inhabitants, who agreed never to surrender nor so much as sound a parley; none went out as deserters or to treat of peace, nor were any admitted in to offer peace.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Shut and barred. [Lit. closed and closed] Targum translates: ‘Closed with iron gates and reinforced with bars of copper.’
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 6:1:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וִֽירִיחוֹ֙and Jericho

    virichoH340557 times

  • סֹגֶ֣רֶת[was] shutting

    sogeretH546291 times

  • וּמְסֻגֶּ֔רֶתand shut up

    umesugeretH546291 times

  • מִפְּנֵ֖י<from> because of

    mipeneiH64402123 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • אֵ֥יןthere not

    ʾeinH369789 times

  • יוֹצֵ֖א[was one] going out

    yotze'H33181067 times

  • וְאֵ֥יןand there not

    veeinH369789 times

  • בָּֽא׃ ס[was one] coming

    ba'H9352568 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 127:1

    Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 16:9

      A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:7

      So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

    • Proverbs 21:30–31

      There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:9–15

      For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

    • Psalms 33:16–18

      No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

  • Through

    Joshua 2:24

    “The LORD has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”

    it leads to

    • Exodus 23:31

      And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you…

    • Joshua 21:44–45

      And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their…

  • Through

    Joshua 2:7

    So the king’s men set out in pursuit of the spies along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they had gone out, the gate was shut.

    it leads to

    • Judges 3:28

      “Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did…

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.