Joshua 7

But the Israelites were unfaithful about the things set apart for destruction. Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of what had been set apart. So the LORD became angry with the Israelites.

1But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

Note"Set apart for destruction" translates the Hebrew word *herem*: goods or people placed permanently outside ordinary use by being devoted to God, which in a captured town meant they could not be kept, sold, or taken as plunder but had to be destroyed, with metal going into the sanctuary treasury. The King James "the accursed thing" is the same word. Jericho had been placed under this rule (Joshua 6:17-19), so taking anything from it was theft from God, not from the enemy. The word covers both the things devoted and the state of being devoted, which is why in verse 12 Israel itself can be described as having fallen under it.

2Joshua sent men from Jericho to the town of Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel. He told them, "Go up and scout out the land." So the men went up and scouted Ai.

2And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.

NoteAi lies about ten miles inland and uphill from Jericho, in the central highlands. The names carry meanings a Hebrew reader would hear: Ai means roughly "the ruin," and Beth-aven means "house of nothing" or "house of wickedness." "Go up" is literal, the route climbs steeply from the Jordan valley.

3They came back to Joshua and said, "There is no need to send all the people. About two or three thousand men are enough to go up and attack Ai. Do not wear out the whole army going up there, because the people of Ai are few."

3And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.

4So about three thousand of the people went up, but they ran away from the men of Ai.

4So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.

5The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them. They chased them from the town gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the slope. So the people lost heart, and their courage melted away like water.

5And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

NoteShebarim is left untranslated because its sense is uncertain; the Hebrew word means "breaks" or "fractures" and may be a place name, or may mean the stone quarries, or the broken ground at the edge of the descent. "Their courage melted like water" is a standard Hebrew idiom for collapse of nerve, used earlier of the Canaanites hearing about Israel.

6Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown on the ground in front of the ark of the LORD, and stayed there until evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and they all put dust on their heads.

6And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.

NoteTearing one's clothes, lying face down, and throwing dust or ashes on the head were the recognized public signs of grief and desperation in the ancient Near East, a visible, formal act rather than a private feeling. The ark of the LORD was the gold-covered chest holding the tablets of the covenant, carried by the Israelites as the place where God's presence met them; approaching it was how one brought a matter formally before God. The elders were the heads of families and clans who governed the community.

7Joshua said, "Oh, Lord GOD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan River, only to hand us over to the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been willing to stay on the other side of the Jordan!

7And Joshua said, Alas, O LORD God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!

NoteWhere the King James prints "LORD" in capitals it stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud; "Lord GOD" here marks a doubled form in the Hebrew, roughly "my Master, the LORD." "Amorites" is used in two ways in the Old Testament: sometimes for one particular people, and sometimes, as here, as a blanket term for the inhabitants of Canaan generally. "The other side of the Jordan" means the east bank, the territory Israel had already conquered before crossing.

8Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

8O LORD, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!

9The Canaanites and everyone else living in the land will hear about this. They will surround us and wipe our name off the earth. Then what will you do about your own great name?"

9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

NoteIn Hebrew usage a person's or nation's "name" means their standing and continued existence; to have your name cut off from the earth is to be wiped out with no descendants to remember you. Joshua's last question turns the same idea on God: if Israel is destroyed, the reputation God gained by bringing them out of Egypt goes with them.

10The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! Why are you lying facedown like this?

10And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?

11Israel has sinned. They have broken the covenant that I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the things set apart for destruction. They have stolen, they have lied about it, and they have put those things in with their own belongings.

11Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

NoteA covenant was a formal binding agreement with stated obligations on both sides, of the kind kings made with subject peoples, not a mood or a promise in the loose modern sense. Breaking it was a legal offense with stated consequences, which is why the rest of the chapter proceeds as a judicial investigation.

12That is why the Israelites cannot stand up to their enemies. They turn their backs and run from them, because they themselves have now come under that same sentence of destruction. I will not stay with you any longer unless you destroy what was set apart from among you.

12Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

13Get up! Have the people set themselves apart for me, and say to them, 'Make yourselves ready for tomorrow. This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are things among you, Israel, that were set apart for destruction. You cannot stand up to your enemies until you remove them.

13Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

NoteTo "set yourselves apart" (the King James "sanctify") describes a set of concrete preparations for coming into God's presence: washing, washing clothes, abstaining from sex, and staying clear of anything that made a person ritually unclean. It is a matter of ritual readiness rather than moral improvement.

14In the morning you must come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe the LORD picks out shall come forward clan by clan. The clan the LORD picks out shall come forward family by family. The family the LORD picks out shall come forward man by man.

14In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.

NoteIsrael's social structure ran in nested layers (tribe, then clan, then extended household, then individual men) and the search works down through them one level at a time. "The LORD picks out" describes selection by lot: physical objects were cast or drawn, and the result was taken as God's answer rather than chance. The same method is used elsewhere to identify a guilty party or divide land.

15The one who is caught with the things set apart shall be burned with fire, along with everything he has. He has broken the LORD's covenant, and he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.'"

15And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

Note"A disgraceful thing in Israel" renders a Hebrew phrase ("folly in Israel") used for a small class of outrages (sexual crimes, betrayals of hospitality, breaches of sacred obligation) that were felt to damage the whole community, not just the victim. It is a legal label for the gravest category of offense, not simply a word for stupidity.

16So Joshua got up early the next morning and had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was picked out.

16So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:

17He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of the Zerahites was picked out. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward man by man, and Zabdi was picked out.

17And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:

NoteThe Hebrew text here says the Zerahite clan came forward "man by man," but the ancient Greek and some Hebrew manuscripts read "household by household," which fits the four-stage procedure laid out in verse 14. Zabdi is Achan's grandfather and the head of the household. Zerah, from whom the Zerahites descend, was a son of Judah, so the genealogy in verses 1 and 18 is what places Achan precisely within the layers being searched.

18He had Zabdi's household come forward man by man, and Achan was picked out, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.

18And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

19Joshua said to Achan, "My son, please give honor to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make your confession to him. Tell me what you have done. Do not hide it from me."

19And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.

Note"Give glory to the LORD" was a set formula addressed to someone under examination, meaning roughly "tell the truth and acknowledge God's verdict." It is a demand for a full statement, not encouragement to worship. "My son" is a form of address from an elder to a younger man, not a claim of kinship.

20Achan answered Joshua, "It is true. I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did.

20And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:

21Among the goods taken from the city I saw a fine coat from Babylon, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, and I took them. They are buried in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

21When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

NoteThe coat is literally "a robe of Shinar," Shinar being the old name for Babylonia; imported Mesopotamian textiles were luxury goods. A shekel was a weight, not a coin, coined money did not yet exist, of roughly 11.5 grams, so two hundred shekels of silver is about five pounds, and the gold bar (King James "wedge," literally "tongue") about a pound and a quarter. Together this is a very large sum, several years' wages. "I wanted them" translates the same verb as the tenth commandment's "covet."

22So Joshua sent messengers. They ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.

22So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

23They took the things out of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD.

23And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.

24Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, along with the silver, the coat, and the bar of gold. They also took his sons and daughters, his oxen, donkeys, and sheep, his tent, and everything he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.

24And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

NoteUnder this legal procedure the household was treated as a single unit: a man's family, animals, tent, and goods shared his status, so everything associated with what had been devoted to destruction was brought out with him. The valley of Achor is thought to lie between Jericho and the highlands, though its exact location is uncertain.

25Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? Today the LORD will bring trouble on you." Then all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

25And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

NoteJoshua's words turn on the name: the Hebrew verb for "bring trouble on" is *akar*, which sounds like both Achan and Achor. The Hebrew shifts between singular and plural here, "stoned him" then "burned them", and does not say plainly whether only Achan was executed or his household with him; the ambiguity is in the original text and translators divide on it. Burning followed the stoning, so it disposed of the bodies rather than causing death.

26They piled a great heap of stones over him, and it is still there today. Then the LORD turned away from his burning anger. That is why the place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

26And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

NoteA heap of stones over a body marked the grave of someone who died in disgrace, serving as a permanent public reminder rather than an honor. "To this day" is a narrator's aside to readers of his own time, telling them the landmark and the place name could still be seen and used when the account was written.