1 But the children of Israel1 committed a atrespass regarding the baccursed things, for cAchan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.
2 Now Joshua 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 country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for thepeopleofAiare few.”
4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people, abut they fled before the men of Ai.
5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore athe hearts of the people melted and became like water.
6 Then Joshua atore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they bput dust on their heads.
7 And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord1God, awhy have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!
8 O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its1 back before its enemies?
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and acut off our name from the earth. Then bwhat will You do for Your great name?”
The Sin of Achan
10 So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?
11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. aFor they have even taken some of the1 accursed things, and have both stolen and bdeceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.
12aTherefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because bthey have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.
13 Get up, asanctify the people, and say, b‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Thereis an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”
14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which athe Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man.
15aThen it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has btransgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he chas done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ”
16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.
17 He brought the clan 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.
18 Then 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, awas taken.
19 Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, agive glory to the Lord God of Israel, band make confession to Him, and ctell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed aI have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done:
21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I1 coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.
23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.
24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and aall that he had, and they brought them to bthe Valley of Achor.
25 And Joshua said, a“Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” bSo all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
26 Then they araised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So bthe Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called cthe Valley of Achor to this day.
JOSHUA. The title of this book is derived from the pious and valiant leader whose achievements it relates and who is commonly supposed to have been its author. The objections to this idea are founded chiefly on the clause, "unto this day," which occurs several times (Joshua 4:9; Joshua 6:25; Joshua 8:28). But this, at least in the case of Rahab, is no valid reason for rejecting the idea of his authorship; for assuming what is most probable, that this book was composed toward the close of Joshua's long career, or compiled from written documents left by him, Rahab might have been still alive. A more simple and satisfactory way of accounting for the frequent insertion of the clause, "unto this day," is the opinion that it was a comment introduced by Ezra, when revising the sacred canon; and this difficulty being removed, the direct proofs of the book having been produced by a witness of the transactions related in it, the strong and vivid descriptions of the passing scenes, and the use of the words "we" and "us," (Joshua 5:1-6), viewed in connection with the fact, that, after his farewell address to the people, Joshua "wrote these words in the book of the law of God" [Joshua 24:26] —all afford strong presumptive proof that the entire book was the work of that eminent individual. Its inspiration and canonical authority are fully established by the repeated testimonies of other Scripture writers (compare Joshua 6:26 with I Kings 16:34; compare Joshua 10:13 with Habakkuk 3:11; Joshua 3:14 with Acts 7:45; Joshua 6:17-23 with Hebrews 11:30; Joshua 2:1-24 with James 2:25; Psalms 44:2; Psalms 68:12-14; Psalms 78:54-55). As a narrative of God's faithfulness in giving the Israelites possession of the promised land, this history is most valuable, and bears the same character as a sequel to the Pentateuch, that the Acts of the Apostles do to the Gospels.
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