Old TestamentBeginner II · Story 12Joshua 6:1-21

Seven Times Around Jericho

Jericho is shut to Israel. The LORD tells Joshua to go around the city with his men of war. Seven priests go before the ark with seven trumpets, and on the seventh day the people go around seven times. The wall falls, and the people take the city. Read the story in simple English.

Start this storyStory + 4 lessons · ~41 min · free

Seven priests in plain robes carry seven ram's-horn trumpets in front of a wooden ark, and a long line of people walks behind it around a tall stone city wall

The words in this story

10 words you will really use: they appear in the story and in the exercises, and come back for review in the next stories.

war
fighting between large groups of people, with many men who fight
noun
messenger
a person who goes to carry a message from one place or one person to another
noun
bronze
a hard metal of a brown color; people make bowls, tools and other things from it
noun
sound
something that you hear, for example a noise or a voice
noun
wall
a high, strong line of stone or brick around a place, for example a city
noun
shut
closed, not open
verb
long
going on for a lot of time, not short
adjective
around
on all sides of a place, in a circle all the way back to the start
adverb
same
not different from another thing; also, the very thing that was done before
adjective
trouble
a hard or sad time; also, to bring a hard time to someone
verb

What you'll discover

The moments of the story, in the order they happen.

Jericho is shut to Israel, and the LORD tells Joshua what his men of war must do.
Seven priests go before the ark, and the people go around the city one time a day for six days.
On the seventh day, Joshua speaks about Rahab and her family, and about the silver, gold and bronze.
The people cry out at the sound of the trumpets, the wall falls, and the people take the city.

Original verse

The verse that closes the story, in the World English Bible. After 4 lessons, this is how you read it: the real text, with nothing simplified.

Joshua 6:20 · WEB

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.

Context

One detail about the scene, with the work it comes from.

The world of the story

What else is Jericho called in the Bible? Deuteronomy 34:3 calls Jericho the city of palm trees.

Source: World English Bible · Public domain

What a story looks like

First the whole story, in simple English with audio for every sentence. Then 4 short lessons, each with a piece of the story, a tip and exercises. At the end, the Bible verse and a little celebration.

The story · 15 sentences, with the meaning of each word on tap, 3 quick questions about the story
4 lessons · a piece of the story, a tip and exercises in each one
The original verse · the Bible text, unadapted, then the next story

Questions about this story

Which Bible passage is this story from?

Joshua 6:1 to 21, in the World English Bible.

What does the LORD tell Joshua to do?

He tells Joshua to go around the city with his men of war, and he says that the wall will fall when the people hear the long sound and shout (Joshua 6:3-5).

What does Joshua tell the people before the wall falls?

He tells them not to shout or let a word be heard until the day he tells them to shout (Joshua 6:10).

Who goes before the ark?

Seven priests go before the ark with seven trumpets (Joshua 6:8).

Who is spared in Jericho?

Joshua says that only Rahab and the people in her house will live, because she hid the messengers (Joshua 6:17). The people kill everyone in the city (Joshua 6:21).

How close is it to the Bible?

It follows Joshua 6:1 to 21 in order, in short sentences. It leaves out parts of the speeches, the rear guard behind the ark, Joshua rising early, the iron and the treasury, and some details of the last verse. The real verses at the end are Joshua 6:20, 6:16 and 6:12.

Other questions:Do I need to know English?Does Biblup teach doctrine?