The quick answer
What happened in the Battle of Jericho?
After Israel crossed the Jordan, Jericho stood closed behind its walls. God instructed Joshua to lead the people around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day they circled it seven times. At Joshua’s command, the priests sounded rams’ horns, the people shouted, and the wall fell.
The story begins before the march. Rahab hid two Israelite spies and tied a scarlet cord in her window as the agreed sign. When Jericho fell, the spies kept their promise and rescued Rahab and the family gathered in her house. Joshua 6 therefore places judgment on the city beside mercy toward Rahab.
The full story
Joshua 2–6: Rahab, the Jordan, and Jericho
Rahab hides Joshua’s two spies
From Israel’s camp at Shittim, Joshua secretly sent two men to examine the land and Jericho. They entered the house of Rahab, whom the text identifies as a prostitute. When Jericho’s king demanded that she bring the men out, Rahab hid them beneath stalks of flax on her roof and sent the pursuers toward the Jordan crossings.
Rahab told the spies that Jericho had heard what Israel’s God had done and that fear had fallen on the people. She confessed that Yahweh is God in heaven and on earth, then asked the men to spare her parents, siblings, and their households. Joshua 2:1–14
“Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.”
The scarlet cord becomes the sign of their promise
Because Rahab’s house was built into the city wall, she lowered the spies by a rope through her window. They told her to tie a scarlet line in that same window and gather her whole family inside. Anyone who left the house would not be covered by their promise.
The spies hid in the hills until the pursuers returned, then crossed back to Joshua. They reported that Yahweh had delivered the land and that the inhabitants were afraid. Joshua 2:15–24
Israel crosses the Jordan on dry ground
When the priests carrying the Ark stepped into the flooded Jordan, the water flowing from upstream stopped. The priests remained in the middle of the riverbed while the entire nation crossed on dry ground.
Twelve representatives then took stones from the Jordan as a memorial for future generations. The crossing established Joshua’s leadership and placed Israel directly before Jericho. Joshua 3:1–17; 4:1–24
“All Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.”
Joshua meets the commander of Yahweh’s army
Near Jericho, Joshua saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword. Joshua asked whether he came for Israel or for its enemies. The answer was “No”; the figure identified himself as commander of Yahweh’s army.
Joshua bowed and asked what message he should receive. He was told to remove his sandal because the place was holy. The passage gives the figure this title but does not explicitly identify him as an angel or as Jesus, so the story is best left with the mystery preserved. Joshua 5:13–15
“No; but I have come now as commander of Yahweh’s army.”
For six days, the procession circles in silence
Jericho was tightly shut. Joshua was instructed to arrange armed men, seven priests with seven rams’ horns, the Ark, and a rear guard. The people were not to shout or speak until Joshua gave the command.
On each of the first six days, the procession went around the city once and returned to camp. The repeated march was unlike a conventional siege: no ramps were built and no assault was launched against the wall. Joshua 6:1–14
On the seventh day, the walls fall
The people rose early and circled Jericho seven times. On the seventh circuit, the priests gave a long blast and Joshua told the people to shout because Yahweh had given them the city. He also repeated the command that Rahab and everyone with her were to live.
When the people shouted, the wall fell down and the Israelite force entered. The silver, gold, bronze, and iron were placed in Yahweh’s treasury, while the city was burned. Joshua pronounced a curse on rebuilding its gates and foundations. Joshua 6:15–27
“The people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat.”
Rahab and her family are brought to safety
The two spies entered Rahab’s house and brought out Rahab, her parents, her brothers, and all who belonged to her. Joshua 6 says she lived among Israel because she had hidden the messengers.
The rescue is not a side detail. Rahab first appears as an outsider in a condemned city, yet her courageous trust and the spies’ kept oath place her family under protection. Later biblical genealogies include Rahab in the family line leading to David and Jesus. Joshua 6:22–25; Matthew 1:5
The chapter at a glance
Joshua 6 Summary
Jericho begins shut behind its defenses. God gives Joshua a seven-day procession involving armed guards, seven priests with rams’ horns, and the Ark. Israel circles once on each of six days, then seven times on the seventh day—a total of thirteen circuits.
After the final horn blast and shout, the wall falls. The city is placed under destruction, the specified metals are devoted to the treasury, and Rahab’s household is rescued. The next chapter shows that taking what was devoted was not optional: Achan’s disobedience brings consequences for Israel in Joshua 7.
What the text claims
How Did the Walls of Jericho Fall?
Joshua 6 does not offer an engineering or acoustic mechanism. Its own explanation is theological: God had given Jericho into Israel’s hand. The horns, procession, silence, and shout form the commanded ritual; the chapter does not say that sound waves physically shattered the walls.
The unusual strategy directs attention away from Israelite siege technology and toward dependence on God. The people still march and enter the city, but they do not take credit for breaching its defenses.
Site and evidence
Jericho Archaeology and the Bible Story
UNESCO identifies Tell es-Sultan, northwest of modern Jericho, as an exceptionally ancient settlement with occupation deposits reaching back to about 10,500 BC, twenty-nine occupation phases, early walls and a tower, and later Bronze Age urban remains and ramparts.
Those findings establish Jericho’s long settlement history, but they do not settle every question about Joshua 6. Archaeologists disagree about how proposed destruction layers should be dated and whether one should be connected to the biblical account. Material evidence can illuminate a site; it cannot by itself prove the narrative’s theological claim that God gave the city to Israel.
Remember the people and details? Try the Bible Characters Quiz, or continue from the conquest through the prophets in Old Testament Bible Trivia.