Joshua 7King James Version
A man named Achan takes forbidden spoil from Jericho. When Israel goes up to attack the small city of Ai, they are defeated and thirty six men die. Joshua tears his clothes and cries out. God tells him there is sin in the camp. Lots are cast, tribe by tribe, until Achan is found out. He and his family are stoned in the valley of Achor.
Israel attacks Ai after Jericho and is routed, thirty-six men killed. God reveals that someone took forbidden plunder from Jericho. Through a lot-casting procedure, Achan of Judah is identified as the violator. He confesses to taking a Babylonian robe, silver, and gold and hiding them under his tent floor. He and his entire household are stoned and burned in the valley of Achor.
Hidden sin fractures the community's covenant standing. The defeat at Ai is not military failure but theological failure, and it cannot be remedied by better tactics.
verse 11: "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." God identifies the problem before Joshua does, and names it as covenant breach.
Ai is a fortified hill town a few miles west of Jericho, guarding the road up into the Benjaminite plateau. The Israelite scouts underestimate it, suggesting a small force of two to three thousand men. The rout is swift and shameful, Israelite soldiers fleeing down the hill slopes while Ai's defenders chase them. Back in camp, Joshua tears his garments and lies face down before the ark until evening, elders gathered around him in silence.
Joshua, prostrate in mourning before the ark; Achan, son of Carmi of the tribe of Judah, whose greed costs thirty-six lives; Achan's sons and daughters and livestock, who die with him; the men of Ai, whose small force defeats a confident Israelite advance; God, who refuses to act for a people carrying stolen herem.
The Achan episode introduces a principle of corporate solidarity that runs through the entire Hebrew Bible: one person's sin can compromise an entire nation's standing before God. This makes modern readers deeply uncomfortable, and rightly so. The text does not explain why Achan's children die; it simply records that they do. The place is named Achor (trouble) and later prophets will promise it will become a door of hope.
Joshua's lament in verse 7 is raw, almost accusatory toward God: why did you bring us over Jordan only to be destroyed? The grief of thirty-six dead men ripples through a camp that thought Jericho's fall had settled everything.
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.
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.
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 there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
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.
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.
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!
8O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
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?
10And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
16So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:
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:
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.
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.
20And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
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.
22So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.
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.
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.
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.
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.