Joshua 6:16

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

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.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Download a study sheet

One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.

This verse Autodidact and up

Study sheet (.html) Plain text (.txt)

A passage Seminary Student

Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.

Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.

Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

Word by word

More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →

Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →

הָרִ֔יעוּ

rûwaʻ

H7321

“shout”

Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 44× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Numbers 10:7

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2135

to shout, raise a sound, cry out, give a blast - (Hiphil) - to shout a war-cry or alarm of battle - to sound a signal for war or march - to shout in triumph (over enemies) - to shout in applause - to shout (with religious impulse) - to cry out in distress - (Polal) to utter a shout - (Hithpolel) - to shout in triumph - to shout for joy - (Niphal) destroyed

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

17: words
16: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הָרִ֔יעוּ to shout H7321 occurs in 40 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
7 nouns
1 adjective
2 prepositions
1 conjunction
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיְהִי֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
תָּקְע֥וּ Qal · Perfect
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
הָרִ֔יעוּ Hiphil · Imperative
נָתַ֧ן Qal · Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 25 words from the Hebrew and 31 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 17 Hebrew tokens and 21 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Joshua 6:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

2 Chronicles 13:15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
Joshua 6:5 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.
Judges 7:20–22 The three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they cried, The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon.
2 Chronicles 20:22–23 When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 6:16 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיְהִי֙ בַּפַּ֣עַם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔ית תָּקְע֥וּ הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים בַּשּׁוֹפָר֑וֹת וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוֹשֻׁ֤עַ אֶל הָעָם֙ הָרִ֔יעוּ כִּֽי נָתַ֧ן יְהוָ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם אֶת הָעִֽיר

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.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 6:16 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ περίοδος ὁ ἕβδομος σαλπίζω ὁ ἱερεύς καί εἶπον ἰησοῦς ὁ υἱός ἰσραήλ κράζω παραδίδωμι γάρ κύριος σύ ὁ πόλις

And it came to pass at the seventh circuit the priests blew the trumpets; and Joshua said to the children of Israel, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וַהֲוָה בְּזִמְנָא שְׁבִיעִיתָא תְּקָעוּ כַהֲנַיָא בְּשׁוֹפָרַיָא וַאֲמַר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ לְעַמָא יַבִּיבוּ אֲרֵי יְהַב יְיָ לְכוֹן יַת קַרְתָּא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 6:16 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jos 6:16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.

Ver. 16. Shout.] To show your faith, to encourage one another, and to terrify the enemy.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Jos 6:16. At the seventh time Joshua said, Shout — To testify your faith in God’s promise, and thankfulness for this glorious mercy; to encourage yourselves and brethren, and to strike a terror into your enemies. The Lord hath given you the city — It is given to you to be devoted to God, as the first (and perhaps the worst) of all the cities of Canaan.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

6:16 Joshua’s command, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town!” was not a device to cause Jericho’s walls to fall. Rather, Joshua exhorted the Israelites to celebrate God’s victory.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

it came to pass at the seventh time, . . . Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city--This delay brought out their faith and obedience in so remarkable a manner, that it is celebrated by the apostle (Heb 11:30).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

John Gill's Exposition

And it came to pass at the seventh time,.... Of their going round the city on the seventh day: and at the seventh time:

when the priests blew with the trumpets; as they did every time they compassed the city:

Joshua said unto the people, shout; both those that were armed, and those that were not; they were to make one grand and general shout at once, as when victory is obtained, or is sure, and so it follows:

for the Lord hath given you the city; intimating that it would be presently delivered into their hands, and in such manner, that it would plainly show it was of the Lord, and no other.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

CHAPTER VI.

Said, or "had said," when he gave the people the sound of the trumpet for a sign (Haydock) when they were to shout, ver. 5. He probably gave the regulations respecting the plunder of the city, before the army left the camp. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Shout, to testify your faith in God’s promise, and thankfulness for this glorious mercy, and to encourage yourselves and brethren, and to strike a terror into your enemies.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

16. Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city — They were to praise the Lord for what he was about to do. Up to this moment it is probable that the soldiers knew nothing of the mode by which the city was to be taken, yet they obeyed with alacrity orders which must have been totally dark with mystery. Verily this is worthy of enrolment among the signal victories of faith. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” Heb_11:30.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

When the priests. There is no "when" in the original, nor is it needed (see Keil).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Shout - To testify your faith in God's promise, and thankfulness for this glorious mercy; to encourage yourselves and brethren, and to strike a terror into your enemies. Given you the city - It is given to them, to be devoted to God, as the first, and perhaps the worst of all the cities of Canaan.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 17 words (16 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is rûwaʻ (“to shout”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word rûwaʻ carries the sense “to shout.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Numbers 10:7, which shares the word «to shout», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וַיְהִי֙» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 17 Hebrew ↔ 21 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
16 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 17 words in this verse.