16:34 according to the word. This terrible event was a precise fulfillment of Joshua’s prophecy at the time he had destroyed Jericho over five hundred years before (Joshua 6:26). Hiel determined to rebuild the fortifications of Jericho, defying Joshua’s curse on anyone attempting this, evidently as a gesture of Baalite defiance of Jehovah. It cost him the lives of his sons, either as sacrifices to Baal or as casualties of the construction work.