Joshua 7

¹ But the childrenchildren of IsraelIsrael did wrong about the cursed thing: for Achan, the sonson of Carmi, the sonson of Zabdi, the sonson of ZerahZerah, of the family of JudahJudah, took of the cursed thing, moving the Lordthe Lord to wrathwrath against the childrenchildren of IsraelIsrael.

² Now JoshuaJoshua sentsent men from JerichoJericho to AiAi, which is by the sideside of Beth-aven, on the east sideside of Beth-elBeth-el, and saidsaid to them, Go upGo up and make a search through the landland. And the men went up and sawsaw how AiAi was placed.

³ Then they came backback to JoshuaJoshua and saidsaid to him, Do not send all the peoplepeople up, but let about two or threethree thousandthousand menmen go upgo up and make an attack on AiAi; there is no need for all the peoplepeople to be tired with the journey there, for it is only a small town.

⁴ So about threethree thousandthousand of the peoplepeople went up, and were sent in flightflight by the menmen of AiAi.

⁵ The menmen of AiAi putput to death about thirtythirty-six of them, driving them from beforebefore the town as far as the stoneworks, and overcoming them on the wayway down: and the hearts of the peoplepeople became like waterwater.

⁶ Then JoshuaJoshua, in great griefgrief, went down on the earthearth beforebefore the arkark of the Lordthe Lord till the eveningevening, and all the chiefschiefs of IsraelIsrael with him, and they putput dustdust on their headsheads.

⁷ And JoshuaJoshua saidsaid, O LordLord God, why have you taken usus over JordanJordan only to givegive usus up into the handshands of the Amorites for our destruction? If only it had been enoughenough for usus to keep on the other sideside of JordanJordan!

⁸ O Lord, what am I to saysay now that IsraelIsrael have given wayway beforebefore their attackers?

⁹ For when the news comes to the Canaanites and all the people of the landland, they will come up, shutting usus in and cutting off our namename from the earthearth: and what will you do for the honour of your greatgreat namename?

¹⁰ Then the Lordthe Lord saidsaid to JoshuaJoshua, Get up; what are you doing with your faceface to the earth?

¹¹ IsraelIsrael has done wrong, sinning against the agreement which I made with them: they have even taken of the cursed thing; acting falsely like thieves they have putput it among their goods.

¹² For this reason the childrenchildren of IsraelIsrael have given wayway, turningturning their backs in flight beforebefore their attackers, because they are cursed: I will no longer be with you, if you do not putput the cursed thing away from among you.

¹³ Up! make the people holy; saysay to them, Make yourselves holy beforebefore tomorrowtomorrow, for the Lordthe Lord, the GodGod of IsraelIsrael, has saidsaid, There is a cursed thing among you, O IsraelIsrael, and you will give wayway beforebefore your attackers in the fight till the cursed thing has been taken away from among you.

¹⁴ So in the morningmorning you are to come nearnear, tribe by tribe; and the tribe marked out by the Lordthe Lord is to come nearnear, familyfamily by familyfamily; and the familyfamily marked out by the Lordthe Lord is to come nearnear, househouse by househouse; and the househouse marked out by the Lordthe Lord is to come nearnear, man by man.

¹⁵ Then the man who is taken with the cursed thing is to be burned, with everything which is his; because he has gone against the agreement of the Lordthe Lord and has done an act of shame in IsraelIsrael.

¹⁶ So JoshuaJoshua got up earlyearly in the morningmorning, and made IsraelIsrael come before him by their tribestribes; and the tribe of JudahJudah was taken;

¹⁷ Then he made JudahJudah come forward, and the familyfamily of the Zerahites was taken; and he made the familyfamily of the Zerahites come forward man by man; and Zabdi was taken;

¹⁸ Then the househouse of Zabdi came forward man by man, and Achan, the sonson of Carmi, the sonson of Zabdi, the sonson of ZerahZerah, of the tribetribe of JudahJudah, was taken.

¹⁹ And JoshuaJoshua saidsaid to Achan, My sonson, givegive glory and praise to the Lordthe Lord, the GodGod of IsraelIsrael; givegive me word now of what you have done, and keep nothing back from me.

²⁰ And Achan, answeringanswering, saidsaid to JoshuaJoshua, TrulyTruly I have done wrong against the Lordthe Lord, the GodGod of IsraelIsrael, and this is what I have done:

²¹ When I sawsaw among their goods a fair robe of Babylon and two hundredhundred shekelsshekels of silversilver, and a mass of goldgold, fiftyfifty shekelsshekels in weight, I was overcome by desire and took them; and they are putput away in the earthearth in my tenttent, and the silversilver is underunder it.

²² So JoshuaJoshua sentsent men quickly, and looking in his tenttent, they sawsaw where the robe had been putput away secretly with the silversilver underunder it.

²³ And they took them from the tenttent and camecame back with them to JoshuaJoshua and the childrenchildren of IsraelIsrael, and putput them beforebefore the Lordthe Lord.

²⁴ Then JoshuaJoshua and all IsraelIsrael took Achan, the sonson of ZerahZerah, and the silversilver and the robe and the mass of goldgold, and his sons and his daughtersdaughters and his oxen and his assesasses and his sheepsheep and his tenttent and everything he had; and they took them up into the valley ofvalley of Achor.

²⁵ And JoshuaJoshua saidsaid, Why have you been a cause of trouble to usus? TodayToday the Lordthe Lord will send trouble on you. And all IsraelIsrael took part in stoningstoning him; they had him stonedstoned to death and then burned with firefire.

²⁶ And over him they putput a greatgreat mass of stonesstones, which is there to this dayday; then the heat of the Lordthe Lord's wrathwrath was turnedturned away. So that placeplace was named, The Valley ofValley of Achor, to this dayday.