Joshua 6:21 (LSB)

Passage

And they devoted to destruction everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

Nearby Context

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.

Joshua 6:21 And they devoted to destruction everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

Joshua 6:22 Now to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.”

Joshua 6:23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sheep", "devoted", "destruction", "everything", "city", "both", "woman", and "young". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sheep" and "devoted", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "So the people shouted and the priests..." into verse 22's "Now to the two men who had...", so "sheep" and "devoted" 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 "sheep" and "devoted" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.