約書亞記6:1-27

6:1 耶利哥的城門因以色列人就關得嚴緊，無人出入。
6:2 耶和華曉諭約書亞說：「看哪，我已經把耶利哥和耶利哥的王，並大能的勇士，都交在你手中。
6:3 你們的一切兵丁要圍繞這城，一日圍繞一次，六日都要這樣行。
6:4 七個祭司要拿七個羊角走在約櫃前。到第七日，你們要繞城七次，祭司也要吹角。
6:5 他們吹的角聲拖長，你們聽見角聲，眾百姓要大聲呼喊，城牆就必塌陷，各人都要往前直上。」
6:6 嫩的兒子約書亞召了祭司來，吩咐他們說：「你們抬起約櫃來，要有七個祭司拿七個羊角走在耶和華的約櫃前」；
6:7 又對百姓說：「你們前去繞城，帶兵器的要走在耶和華的約櫃前。」
6:8 約書亞對百姓說完了話，七個祭司拿七個羊角走在耶和華面前吹角；耶和華的約櫃在他們後面跟隨。
6:9 帶兵器的走在吹角的祭司前面，後隊隨著約櫃行。祭司一面走一面吹。
6:10 約書亞吩咐百姓說：「你們不可呼喊，不可出聲，連一句話也不可出你們的口，等到我吩咐你們呼喊的日子，那時才可以呼喊。」
6:11 這樣，他使耶和華的約櫃繞城，把城繞了一次；眾人回到營裡，就在營裡住宿。
6:12 約書亞清早起來，祭司又抬起耶和華的約櫃。
6:13 七個祭司拿七個羊角在耶和華的約櫃前，時常行走吹角；帶兵器的在他們前面走，後隊隨著耶和華的約櫃行。祭司一面走一面吹。
6:14 第二日，眾人把城繞了一次，就回營裡去。六日都是這樣行。
6:15 第七日清早，黎明的時候，他們起來，照樣繞城七次；惟獨這日把城繞了七次。
6:16 到了第七次，祭司吹角的時候，約書亞吩咐百姓說：「呼喊吧，因為耶和華已經把城交給你們了！
6:17 這城和其中所有的都要在耶和華面前毀滅；只有妓女喇合與她家中所有的可以存活，因為她隱藏了我們所打發的使者。
6:18 至於你們，務要謹慎，不可取那當滅的物，恐怕你們取了那當滅的物就連累以色列的全營，使全營受咒詛。
6:19 惟有金子、銀子，和銅鐵的器皿都要歸耶和華為聖，必入耶和華的庫中。」
6:20 於是百姓呼喊，祭司也吹角。百姓聽見角聲，便大聲呼喊，城牆就塌陷，百姓便上去進城，各人往前直上，將城奪取；
6:21 又將城中所有的，不拘男女老少，牛羊和驢，都用刀殺盡。
6:22 約書亞吩咐窺探地的兩個人說：「你們進那妓女的家，照著你們向她所起的誓，將那女人和她所有的都從那裡帶出來。」
6:23 當探子的兩個少年人就進去，將喇合與她的父母、弟兄，和她所有的，並她一切的親眷，都帶出來，安置在以色列的營外。
6:24 眾人就用火將城和其中所有的焚燒了；惟有金子、銀子，和銅鐵的器皿都放在耶和華殿的庫中。
6:25 約書亞卻把妓女喇合與她父家，並她所有的，都救活了；因為她隱藏了約書亞所打發窺探耶利哥的使者，她就住在以色列中，直到今日。
6:26 當時，約書亞叫眾人起誓說：「有興起重修這耶利哥城的人，當在耶和華面前受咒詛。他立根基的時候，必喪長子，安門的時候，必喪幼子。」
6:27 耶和華與約書亞同在，約書亞的聲名傳揚遍地。

 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

² Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ³ March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. ⁴ Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. ⁵ When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

⁶ So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” ⁷ And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

⁸ When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. ⁹ The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. ¹⁰ But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” ¹¹ So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.

¹² Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. ¹⁴ So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted^[a] to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. ²¹ 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.

²² Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” ²³ So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

²⁴ Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. ²⁵ But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

²⁶ At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

“At the cost of his firstborn son
    he will lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
    he will set up its gates.”

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

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    雖然以色列人攻打耶利哥城的故事，對我們十分熟悉；但是我們卻沒有好好深思，為何約書亞要百姓起誓說：「有興起重修這耶利哥城的人，當在耶和華面前受咒詛。他立根基的時候，必喪長子，安門的時候，必喪幼子。」

    人常常喜歡對人歌功頌德，不喜歡將榮耀歸給上帝！正如耶利哥城倒塌是上帝的工作，不是以色列人在那裏繞城和喊叫讓耶利哥城倒塌！但是說故事的人，常常會說以色列人多麼忠心的繞城，所以上帝喜悅他們，城因此倒塌！若是這樣解經會不會讓人覺得荒謬呢？

    其實，約書亞要百姓起那樣的誓言，目的是要讓後代的子子孫孫記念上帝如何為以色列人爭戰，不是要人真的受到這樣的懲罰！

    解經的人和講道的人都要注意我們傳講和書寫的目的，不是對人歌功頌德！而是要讓人認識上帝奇妙的作為，然後將榮耀歸給上帝！因為真正有作為的是上帝不是人，所以詩人會說：「耶和華啊，榮耀不要歸與我們，不要歸與我們；要因你的慈愛和誠實歸在你的名下！」（詩篇115篇1節）