Joshua 6:3 (DBY)

Passage

And ye shall go round the city, all the men of war, encompassing the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.

Nearby Context

Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was shut up and was barred, because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

Joshua 6:2 And Jehovah said to Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, [and] the valiant men.

Joshua 6:3 And ye shall go round the city, all the men of war, encompassing the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.

Joshua 6:4 And seven priests shall carry before the ark seven blast-trumpets; and on the seventh day ye shall go round the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.

Joshua 6:5 And it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the blast-horn, that all the people on hearing the sound of the trumpet shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall flat, and the people shall go up, each one straight before him.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "round", "city", "encompassing", "once", "thus", and "shalt". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "round", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "And Jehovah said to Joshua See I..." into verse 4's "And seven priests shall carry before the...", so "shall" and "round" belong inside that flow. In Joshua context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "round" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.