Joshua 6:21

Joshua 6:21 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
• New International Version (NIV)They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.
• New King James Version (NKJV)And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

Context of Joshua 6:21

19All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy (consecrated) to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” 20So the people shouted [the battle cry], and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a great shout and the wall [of Jericho] fell down, so that the sons of Israel went up into the city, every man straight ahead [climbing over the rubble], and they overthrew the city. Then they utterly destroyed everything that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. 22But Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring the woman and all that she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.” 23So the young men, the spies, went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and everything that she had; they also brought out all her relatives and allowed them to stay outside the camp of Israel [at Gilgal during the time required for ceremonial cleansing].

Joshua 6:21 word by word

וַֽיַּחֲרִ֙ימוּ֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּעִ֔יר מֵאִישׁ֙ וְעַד־אִשָּׁ֔ה מִנַּ֖עַר וְעַד־זָקֵ֑ן וְעַ֨ד שׁ֥וֹר וָשֶׂ֛ה וַחֲמ֖וֹר לְפִי־חָֽרֶב׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And they utterly destroyedחָרַםchâram · to devote/destroyH2763
• in the cityעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892
• both manאִישׁ'îysh · manH376
• and womanאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
• youngנַ֫עַרna‛ar · youthH5288
• and oldזָקֵןzâqên · oldH2205
• and oxשׁוֹרshôr · cattleH7794
• and sheepשֶׂהώeh ώêy · sheepH7716
• and assחֲמוֹרchămôr chămôr · donkeyH2543
• with the edgeפֶּהpeh · lip: edgeH6310
• of the swordחֶ֫רֶבchereb · swordH2719

Cross-references for Joshua 6:21

• Joshua 9:24They replied to Joshua and said, “Because your servants were told in no uncertain terms that the Lord your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the land’s inhabitants before you, we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and so we did this [deceptive] thing.
• Joshua 10:28Now Joshua captured Makkedah on that day, and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword; he utterly destroyed it and everyone who was in it. He left no survivor. So he did to the king of Makkedah just as he had done to the king of Jericho.
• Joshua 11:14The sons of Israel took as their plunder all the spoil of these cities and the cattle; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one alive.
• Deuteronomy 2:34At the same time we took all his cities and utterly destroyed every city—men, women and children. We left no survivor.
• Deuteronomy 7:2and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall not make a covenant (treaty) with them nor show mercy and compassion to them.
• Deuteronomy 20:16Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.
• 1 Samuel 15:3Now go and strike Amalek and completely destroy everything that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”
• 1 Samuel 15:19Why did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but [instead] swooped down on the plunder [with shouts of victory] and did evil in the sight of the Lord?”
• 1 Kings 20:42He said to the king, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have released from your hand the man [Ben-hadad] whom I had devoted to destruction, your life shall be required for his life, and your people for his people.’ ”
• Psalms 137:8O daughter of Babylon, you devastator, How blessed will be the one Who repays you [with destruction] as you have repaid us.
• Jeremiah 48:18Come down from your glory, O Daughter living in Dibon, And sit on the parched ground [among the thirsty]! For the destroyer of Moab has advanced against you; He has destroyed your strongholds.
• Revelation 18:21Then a single powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone and flung it into the sea, saying, “With such violence will Babylon the great city be hurled down [by the sudden, spectacular judgment of God], and will never again be found.

Commentaries on Joshua 6:21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21They utterly destroyed - both man, and woman, etc. - As this act was ordered by God himself, who is the Maker and Judge of all men, it must be right: for the Judge of all the earth cannot do wrong. Nothing that breathed was permitted to live; hence the oxen, sheep, and asses, were destroyed, as well as the inhabitants.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-27Verses 17-27 Jericho was to be a solemn and awful sacrifice to the justice of God, upon those who had filled up the measure of their sins. So He appoints, from whom, as creatures, they received their lives, and to whom, as sinners, they had forfeited them. Rahab perished not with them that believed not, He 11:31. All her kindred were saved with her; thus faith in Christ brings salvation to the house, Ac 16:31. She, and they with her, were plucked as…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 20-2120-21. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets--Towards the close of the seventh circuit, the signal was given by Joshua, and on the Israelites' raising their loud war cry, the walls fell down, doubtless burying multitudes of the inhabitants in the ruins, while the besiegers, rushing in, consigned everything animate and inanimate to indiscriminate destruction (De 20:16, 17). Jewish writers mention it as an immemorial tradition that…Read the comment

Topics related to Joshua 6:21

• Rahab
• War

In the dictionaries

• Accursed
• Adjure
• Cattle
• Compass
• Consecrate
• Dawn
• Jericho
• Shout
• Ark of the Covenant
• Exodus, the Book of

Commentaries on Joshua 6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings