¹ And it came about, that when Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, with all his army, came against Jerusalem, shutting it in on every side;

² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the town was broken into:)

³ All the captains of the king of Babylon came in and took their places in the middle doorway of the town, Nergal-shar-ezer, ruler of Sin-magir, the Rabmag, and Nebushazban, the Rab-saris, and all the captains of the king of Babylon.

⁴ And when Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all the men of war saw it, they went in flight from the town by night, by the way of the king's garden, through the doorway between the two walls: and they went out by the Arabah.

⁵ But the Chaldaean army went after them and overtook Zedekiah in the lowlands of Jericho: and they made him a prisoner and took him up to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, to be judged by him.

⁶ Then the king of Babylon put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes in Riblah: and the king of Babylon put to death all the great men of Judah.

⁷ And more than this, he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and had him put in chains to take him away to Babylon.

⁸ And the Chaldaeans put the king's house on fire, as well as the houses of the people, and had the walls of Jerusalem broken down.

⁹ Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away to Babylon as prisoners, all the rest of the workmen who were still in the town, as well as those who had given themselves up to him, and all the rest of the people.

¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, let the poorest of the people, who had nothing whatever, go on living in the land of Judah, and gave them vine-gardens and fields at the same time.

¹¹ Now Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, gave orders about Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, saying,

¹² Take him and keep an eye on him and see that no evil comes to him; but do with him whatever he says to you.

¹³ So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, sent Nebushazban, the Rab-saris, and Nergal-shar-ezer, the Rabmag, and all the chief captains of the king of Babylon,

¹⁴ And they sent and took Jeremiah out of the place of the watchmen, and gave him into the care of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him to his house: so he was living among the people.

¹⁵ Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the place of the armed watchmen, saying,

¹⁶ Go and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, my words will come true for this town, for evil and not for good: they will come about before your eyes on that day.

¹⁷ But I will keep you safe on that day, says the Lord: you will not be given into the hands of the men you are fearing.

¹⁸ For I will certainly let you go free, and you will not be put to the sword, but your life will be given to you out of the hands of your attackers: because you have put your faith in me, says the Lord.

¹ Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.

² Yahweh said to Joshua, "Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor.

³ All your men of war shall march around the city, going around the city once. You shall do this six days.

⁴ Seven priests shall bear Seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city Seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

⁵ It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him."

⁶ Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh."

⁷ They said to the people, "Advance! March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before Yahweh's ark."

⁸ It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before Yahweh advanced, and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed them.

⁹ The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.

¹⁰ Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout."

¹¹ So he caused the ark of Yahweh to go around the city, going about it once. Then they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

¹² Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh.

¹³ The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them. The rear guard came after the ark of Yahweh. The trumpets sounded as they went.

¹⁴ The second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. They did this six days.

¹⁵ It happened on the seventh day, that 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 It happened 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 the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it.

¹⁹ But all the silver, and 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. It happened, 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 They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and 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 out from there the woman and all that she has, 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 her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.

²⁴ They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of Yahweh's house.

²⁵ But Rahab the prostitute, her father's household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶ Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed is the man before Yahweh, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates."