Joshua 6:21 describes the moment Israel’s army took the city of Jericho and carried out the command to destroy everything in it, people and animals alike. The verse records what happened after the walls fell: the city was given over entirely to God as an act of judgment. Joshua, who led Israel after Moses, gave the command that sets the scene, and the narrator of the book records it as the outcome of the battle.
They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
Joshua 6:21 (WEB)
What Joshua 6:21 Means
The verse begins with “utterly destroyed,” a word the Hebrew text uses for the devoting of something to God. Everything inside the city was placed under that claim, which is why the verse lists people of every age and sex and then the livestock. The phrase “with the edge of the sword” tells you the means: this was violent conquest carried out in battle, not a slow process or a natural disaster.
The verse does not explain why God commanded this, and it does not give a general rule for how God’s people should treat enemies in every age. It reports one event in one specific setting. Earlier verses in the chapter make clear that the city’s inhabitants had been set apart for judgment, and that Israel was to take nothing from the devoted city for themselves. The verse describes what was done, not a promise or a principle to copy.
The Context of Joshua 6:21
The book of Joshua tells the story of Israel entering the land of Canaan after the wilderness years, and it is traditionally attributed to Joshua himself, with later editing that many scholars recognize. Its first audience would have been an Israelite community looking back on how they came to live in the promised land. Chapter 6 opens the account of the conquest with Jericho, the first major city they faced.
The verses just before and after help explain the verse’s place in the story. Verses 18 and 19 warn the Israelites to keep away from devoted things and state that the silver, gold, and metal vessels belong to the Lord’s treasury. Verses 22 through 24 then show Rahab and her household being spared, which means the destruction was targeted and not indiscriminate in the way the verse alone might suggest. Read in that sequence, the verse is part of a carefully bounded act of judgment with a specific exception.
Key Phrases in Joshua 6:21
Joshua 6:25
But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lives in the middle of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
(WEB)
This verse finishes the Rahab story and records that she and her family lived among Israel. It shows the mercy that appears within the same chapter as the destruction, which helps you read Joshua 6:21 as one part of a larger account rather than as the whole picture.
Deuteronomy 20:16-18
16 But of the cities of these peoples, that the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as the LORD your God has commanded you; 18 that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so would you sin against the LORD your God.
(WEB)
This passage gives Israel the law that governed the devoting of cities in conquest. Reading it alongside Joshua 6:21 helps you see that the destruction at Jericho followed a commandment given earlier, which explains the setting without removing the difficulty.
A Short Prayer From Joshua 6:21
Lord, the story of Jericho is hard to read, and I bring my questions to you rather than pretending they are not there. Help me to trust your justice and your holiness, even when I do not fully understand what you have done in the past. Teach me to see the mercy you showed to Rahab and to recognize that your character is steady across every page of Scripture. Keep me from easy judgments about others, and make me faithful to the promises I have made. Amen.
