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Joshua 6:17

in Joshua 6

Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

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.

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This verse in Joshua 6

Commentary

2 notes on this verse
Accursed - Better as in margin, (“devoted” (Lev 27:28 note). In other cases the inhabitants only of the towns were slain; their cattle and property became the booty of the victors. But Jericho, as the first Canaanite city that was captured, was devoted by Israel as first-fruits to God, as a token that Israel received all the land from Him. Every living thing was put to death (Rahab and her household excepted) as a sacrifice to God, and the indestructible goods were Jos 6:19 brought into the treasury of the sanctuary.

This site's exposition

the city shall be accursed

on Joshua 6:17-19

The city is placed under the ban, which the King James renders accursed; the Hebrew word is cherem, and a thing under cherem is handed over to God and put past any human use. The accursed thing occurs here at verse 18 for the first time in Scripture, and chapter 7 is what one man taking it costs the nation. Rahab is exempted by name and on a stated ground, because she hid the messengers, and the exemption is announced before the walls fall rather than argued for afterward. The metals go into the treasury as consecrated things, so the ban moves the spoil out of Israel's reach and into God's.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

And the city shall be consecrated. It shall be sacred, for that day was the holy Shabbos, 3 See Rashi to verse.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 6:17:1, 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

23 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.

  • וְהָיְתָ֨הand it will be

    vehayetahH1961 →3559 times

  • הָעִ֥ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • חֵ֛רֶםa devoted thing

    cheremH2764 →38 times

  • הִ֥יאit

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־that

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • בָּ֖הּ[is] in <the> it

    bah

  • לַֽיהוָ֑הto Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • רַק֩only

    rakH7535 →109 times

  • רָחָ֨בRahab

    rachavH7343 →5 times

  • הַזּוֹנָ֜הthe prostitute

    hazonahH2181 →94 times

  • תִּֽחְיֶ֗הshe will live

    tichyehH2421 →282 times

  • הִ֚יאshe

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • וְכָל־and every

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣ר[one] who

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אִתָּ֣הּ[is] with her

    ʾitahH854 →929 times

  • בַּבַּ֔יִתin the house

    babayitH1004 →2046 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • הֶחְבְּאַ֔תָהshe hid

    hechbeatahH2244 →33 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמַּלְאָכִ֖יםthe messengers

    hamalakhimH4397 →213 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhom

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • שָׁלָֽחְנוּ׃we sent

    shalachenuH7971 →845 times

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

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

James 2:25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?6 worksDeuteronomy 20:17For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,5 worksMicah 4:13Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.4 worksGalatians 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”3 worksMatthew 25:40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’3 worksGalatians 3:12The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Hebrews 6:10For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.3 worksGenesis 12:3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”3 works1 Corinthians 2:7No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began.3 worksHebrews 11:31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.3 worksJoshua 6:22Meanwhile, Joshua told the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and all who are with her, just as you promised her.”3 worksJoshua 10:40So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.3 worksJoshua 2:22So the spies went out into the hill country and stayed there three days, until their pursuers had returned without finding them, having searched all along the road.2 works1 Samuel 15:6And he warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, go on and get away from the Amalekites. Otherwise I will sweep you away with them.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.2 worksJoshua 2:4–6But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come from.2 worksNumbers 21:2–3So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.”2 worksEzekiel 39:17And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.2 worksLeviticus 27:28–29Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD.2 works

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

    Galatians 3:10

    All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 27:26

      ‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

    • Romans 8:7

      because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

    • Romans 3:19–20

      Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

  • Through

    Matthew 25:40

    And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 19:17

      Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.

    • Proverbs 14:31

      Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.

    • Matthew 10:42

      And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”

    • Mark 9:41

      Indeed, if anyone gives you even a cup of water because you bear the name of Christ, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

    • 1 Peter 1:22

      Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

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
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 6 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth.

Read on in Joshua 6 →