Chapter 7

¹But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the children of Israel. ²Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the land. The men went up and spied out Ai. ³They returned to Joshua, and said to him, Don’t let all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai; don’t make all the people to toil there; for they are but few. ⁴So there went up there of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵The men of Ai struck of them about thirty-six men; and they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent; and the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. ⁶Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. ⁷Joshua said, Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? would that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan! ⁸Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will compass us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what will you do for your great name? ¹⁰Yahweh said to Joshua, Get you up; why are you thus fallen on your face? ¹¹Israel has sinned; yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: yes, they have even taken of the devoted thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also; and they have even put it among their own stuff. ¹²Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, because they are become accursed: I will not be with you any more, except you destroy the devoted thing from among you. ¹³Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, There is a devoted thing in the midst of you, Israel; you can not stand before your enemies, until you take away the devoted thing from among you. ¹⁴In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which Yahweh takes shall come near by families; and the family which Yahweh shall take shall come near by households; and the household which Yahweh shall take shall come near man by man. ¹⁵It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has; because he has transgressed the covenant of Yahweh, and because he has done folly in Israel. ¹⁶So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: ¹⁷and he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites: and he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: ¹⁸and he brought near 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 glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what you have done; don’t hide it from me. ²⁰Achan answered Joshua, and said, Of a truth I have sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: ²¹when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian mantle, 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. ²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. ²³They took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before Yahweh. ²⁴Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his donkeys, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. ²⁵Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? Yahweh shall trouble you this day. All Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. ²⁶They raised over him a great heap of stones, to this day; and Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called “The valley of Achor” to this day.