But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest as you are devoting them to destruction, you also take some of the things devoted to destruction and make the camp of Israel devoted to destruction and bring trouble on it.
Joshua 6:16 Now it happened that on the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.
Joshua 6:17 And the city shall be devoted to destruction, it and all that is in it belongs to Yahweh; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent.
Joshua 6:18 But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest as you are devoting them to destruction, you also take some of the things devoted to destruction and make the camp of Israel devoted to destruction and bring trouble on it.
Joshua 6:19 But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to Yahweh; they shall go into the treasury of Yahweh.”
Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down beneath itself, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.
The verse centers on "only", "keep", "yourselves", "things", "devoted", "destruction", "lest", and "devoting". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "only" and "keep", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 17's "And the city shall be devoted to..." into verse 19's "But all the silver and gold and...", so "only" and "keep" 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 "only" and "keep" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.