Achan

1But the people of Israel did wrong. Some things taken from Jericho were set apart for God. Nobody was allowed to keep them. Achan took some of them anyway. Achan was the son of Carmi. Carmi was the son of Zabdi. Zabdi was the son of Zerah. Their family belonged to the tribe of Judah. So the LORD became angry with all Israel.

But 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.

NoteA tribe was one big family group. Israel had twelve of them, all cousins.

2Joshua sent some men from Jericho to a town called Ai. Ai was near Beth-aven, just east of Bethel. Joshua told them, "Go and look at the land." So the men went and looked at Ai.

And 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.

Note"Go and look at the land" means go quietly and spy. They wanted to see how strong the town was.

3They came back to Joshua with their report. They said, "You do not need to send everyone. Send about two or three thousand men to attack Ai. Do not make all the people walk there and get tired. There are only a few people in Ai."

And 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 men went up to fight. But they ran away from the men of Ai.

So 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 all the way to Shebarim. They struck them down on the slope going down. Then the people of Israel lost all their courage. Their hearts turned soft as water.

And 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 was a rocky place near Ai. People may have cut stones there.

6Joshua tore his clothes to show how sad he was. He lay face down on the ground in front of the ark of the LORD. He stayed there until evening. The leaders of Israel did the same. They put dust on their heads to show their grief.

And 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 your clothes was how people showed great sadness. Putting dust on your head meant the same thing. The ark was the special chest that showed God was with them.

7Joshua said, "Oh, Lord GOD, why did You bring us across the Jordan River? Was it to hand us over to the Amorites, so they could destroy us? I wish we had been happy to stay on the other side."

And 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!

NoteThe Amorites were one of the groups of people living in that land.

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

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

9"The Canaanites and everyone else in this land will hear about it. They will surround us and wipe us out. Nobody will remember our name at all. And then what will You do about Your own great name?"

For 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?

NoteThe Canaanites were the people who lived in the land of Canaan. Israel had just come there.

10The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! Why are you lying here on your face?"

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

11"Israel has sinned. They broke the promise I told them to keep. They took some of the things that were set apart. They stole them. They lied about it. They hid them with their own things."

Israel 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 promise like this one is called a covenant. It was a deal God and the people agreed to keep.

12"That is why Israel cannot stand up to their enemies. They turn their backs and run. They are now under the same doom as the stolen things. I will not stay with you any longer. First you must destroy the set-apart things kept among you."

Therefore 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.

13"Get up. Make the people clean and ready to meet God. Tell them, 'Get yourselves ready for tomorrow. The LORD, the God of Israel, says this. Someone among you is keeping something that was set apart. You cannot stand up to your enemies until you take it away.'"

Up, 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.

NoteGetting ready meant washing and putting on clean clothes. People did this before coming close to God.

14"In the morning, come forward one tribe at a time. The LORD will point out one tribe. That tribe will come forward, one family group at a time. The LORD will point out one group. That group will come forward, one household at a time. Then that household will come forward, one man at a time."

In 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.

NoteGod pointed out the right person by a kind of drawing of straws. It was called casting lots.

15"The man found with the set-apart things will be burned with fire. Everything he owns will burn too. He broke the promise he made to the LORD. He did a shameful thing in Israel."

And 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.

16Early the next morning Joshua brought Israel forward, tribe by tribe. The tribe of Judah was picked out.

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

17He brought the family groups of Judah forward. The group called the Zerahites was picked out. Then the Zerahites came forward, one man at a time. Zabdi was picked out.

And 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:

18Then Zabdi's household came forward, one man at a time. Achan was picked out. He was the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.

And 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, give honor to the LORD, the God of Israel. Tell him the truth about what you did. Please tell me too. Do not hide it from me."

And 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 honor to the LORD" meant telling the whole truth. Hiding it would be an insult to God.

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

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

21"I saw good things among the goods taken from Jericho. There was a beautiful coat from Babylon. There was silver, about five pounds of it. There was a bar of gold weighing over one pound. I wanted them very much, so I took them. They are buried in the ground inside my tent. The silver is at the bottom."

When 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.

NoteBabylon was a rich city far away. A coat from there was rare and costly.

22So Joshua sent men, and they ran to the tent. The things were there, hidden in his tent. The silver was underneath, just as he said.

So 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. They brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. They laid them out before the LORD.

And 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 took Achan, the son of Zerah. They took the silver, the coat, and the bar of gold. They took his sons and his daughters. They took his cattle, his donkeys, and his sheep. They took his tent and everything he owned. They brought them all to the Valley of Achor.

And 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.

25Joshua said, "Why did you bring this trouble on us? Today the LORD will bring trouble on you." Then all the people of Israel threw stones at Achan until he died. They stoned the others too, and then burned them with fire.

And 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.

NoteLong ago people punished very bad crimes by throwing stones. The whole town did it together.

26They piled a big heap of stones over him. That heap is still there today. Then the LORD stopped being angry. That is why the place is called the Valley of Achor. Achor means "trouble."

And 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 big pile of stones was like a sign. Anyone walking past would remember what happened there.

16"All of the LORD's people ask you this. Why have you broken faith with the God of Israel? You have turned away from following the LORD today. You built your own altar. Are you fighting against the LORD?

Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD?

NoteTo break faith means to be untrue to someone who trusted you.

17Remember our sin at Peor. We are still not clean from it, even today. That sin brought a deadly sickness on all of God's people.

Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD,

NoteAt a place called Peor, many Israelites worshiped a different god. A terrible sickness spread and many people died. Here "not clean" does not mean dirty. It means the wrong was still not made right.

18And now you are turning away from the LORD! If you fight against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with all of Israel.

But that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.

19If your land is not fit for worship, then come over here. Come to the land that belongs to the LORD, where his holy tent stands. Take a share of land among us. But do not fight against the LORD, and do not fight against us. Do not build another altar beside the altar of the LORD our God.

Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD, wherein the LORD’s tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our God.

NoteGod's holy tent was a large tent made of cloth and skins. It was the one place where all Israel came to worship together.

20Remember Achan, the son of Zerah. He took things that were set apart for God. God's anger fell on all of Israel. And Achan was not the only one who died for what he did."

Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.

NoteAchan took gold and silver from a city that was supposed to be given to God. He hid it in his tent. Trouble came on the whole army because of it.