John Calvin on Joshua 6:17-19

17. And the city shall be accursed, etc Although God had determined not only to enrich his people with spoil and plunder, but also to settle them in cities which they had not built, yet there was a peculiarity in the case of the first city; for it was right that it should be consecrated as a kind of first fruits. Accordingly, he claims the buildings, as well as all the moveable property, as his own, and prohibits the application of any part of it to private uses. It may have been an irksome and grievous task for the people voluntarily to pull down houses in which they might have commodiously dwelt, and to destroy articles which might have been important for use. But as they had not been required to fight, it behooved them to refrain, without grudging, from touching the prey, and willingly yield up the rewards of the victory to God, as it was solely by his nod that the walls of the city had fallen, and the courage of the citizens had fallen along with them. God was contented with this pledge of gratitude, provided the people thereby quickly learned that everything they called their own was the gift of his free liberality. For with equal right all the other cities might have been doomed to destruction, had not God granted them to his people for habitations.

As to the Hebrew word חרס, I will now only briefly repeat from other passages. When it refers to sacred oblations, it becomes, in respect of men, equivalent to abolitions, since things devoted in this manner are renounced by them as completely as if they were annihilated. The equivalent Greek term is ἀνάθημα, or ἀνάθεμα, meaning set apart, or as it is properly expressed in French, interdicted. Hence the exhortation to beware of what was under anathema, inasmuch as that which had been set apart for God alone had perished, in so far as men were concerned. It is used in a different sense in the following verse, where caution is given not to place the camp of Israel in anathema. Here its simple meaning is, excision, perdition, or death. Moreover, God destined vessels made of metals for the use of the sanctuary; all other things he ordered to be consumed by fire, or destroyed in other manners.

Joshua 6:20-27

20. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

20. Itaque vociferatus est populus postquam clanxerunt tubis. Quum enim audisset populus vocem tubarum, vociferatus est vociferatione maxima, et cecidit murus subtus, tum ascendit populus in urbem quisque e regione sua, et ceperunt eam.

21. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

21. Et perdiderunt omnia quae erant in urbe, a vobis usque ad mulierem, a puero usque ad senem, ad bovem, et ovem, et asinum, acie gladii.

22. But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she has, as you swear unto her.

22. Duobus autem viris qui exploraverant terram dixit Josue, Ingredimini domum mulieris meretricis, et inde educite eam, et quaecunque habet, quemadmodum jurastis ei.

23. And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.

23. Ingressi itaque exploratores eduxerunt Rahab, et patrem ejus, et matrem ejus, et fratres ejus, et quaecunque habebat, et totam cognationem ejus eduxerunt, ac locarunt extra castra Israel.

24. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

24. Urbem vero succenderunt igni, et quaecunque erant in ea: tantummodo aurum et argentum, vasa aerea et ferrea posuerunt in thesauro domus Jehovae.

25. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwells in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

25. Itaque Rahab meretricem, et domum patris ejus, et quaecunque habebat vivere fecit Josue: habitavitque in medio Israel usque ad hunc diem, quia absconderat nuntios quos miserat Josue ad explorandum Jericho.

26. And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and builds this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.

26. Adjuravit autem Josue tempore illo, dicendo, Maledictus vir coram Jehova qui surget ut edificet urbem istam Jericho. In primogenito suo fundabit eam et in minore suo statuet portas ejus.

27. So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.

27. Fuit autem Jehova cum Josue, et fama ejus fuit in tota terra.