Atlas Biblica

    Joshua · 26 verses

    Joshua 7

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    Achan hid a beautiful cloak, silver, and gold in the ground inside his tent, with the silver underneath—as if even stolen treasure required a tidy little filing system.

    The defeat at Aivv. 1–15

    The trouble begins before anyone knows its name. Achan takes what was set apart, and the anger of the LORD burns against Israel. Joshua sends a small force from Jericho to Ai; the men return confident, the soldiers go up, and then three thousand men flee while Ai pursues them as far as the quarries. Thirty-six are struck down, and the courage of the people melts quite literally into water.

    Joshua and the elders spend the day facedown before the ark, dust on their heads. The LORD’s answer is wonderfully brisk: “Stand up!” The matter is not a shortage of soldiers but a stolen thing, hidden among Israel’s possessions. The remedy is a tribal, clan, family, and man-by-man selection, with a severe sentence awaiting the one found carrying it.

    Achan is selectedvv. 16–26

    The selection proceeds with the solemnity of a narrowing funnel: Judah, then the Zerahites, then Zabdi’s family, and finally Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah. Joshua asks him to confess, and Achan supplies an inventory of unusual precision: a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. The silver is beneath the cloak, all of it hidden in the ground inside his tent.

    Messengers run to the tent and find the things exactly where Achan said. They are spread before Joshua and Israel, and Achan is brought to the Valley of Achor with the goods, his family, his animals, his tent, and everything else he owns. Joshua calls the trouble back upon him; Israel stones Achan, then “the others,” whose precise identity the verse does not pause to explain, and burns their bodies. A heap of rocks remains, and the anger turns away.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Josh 7:1The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the LORD burned against the Israelites.

    2. Josh 7:2Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

    3. Josh 7:3On returning to Joshua, they reported, “There is no need to send all the people; two or three thousand men are enough to go up and attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, you need not wear out all our people there.”

    4. Josh 7:4So about three thousand men went up, but they fled before the men of Ai.

    5. Josh 7:5And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the gate as far as the quarries and striking them down on the slopes. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

    6. Josh 7:6Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.

    7. Josh 7:7“O, Lord GOD,” Joshua said, “why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!

    8. Josh 7:8O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

    9. Josh 7:9When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

    10. Josh 7:10But the LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face?

    11. Josh 7:11Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions.

    12. Josh 7:12This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction.

    13. Josh 7:13Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

    14. Josh 7:14In the morning you must present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD selects shall come forward clan by clan, and the clan that the LORD selects shall come forward family by family, and the family that the LORD selects shall come forward man by man.

    15. Josh 7:15The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage in Israel.’”

    16. Josh 7:16So Joshua arose early the next morning and had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected.

    17. Josh 7:17He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward, and the family of Zabdi was selected.

    18. Josh 7:18And he had the family of Zabdi come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.

    19. Josh 7:19So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him. I urge you to tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

    20. Josh 7:20“It is true,” Achan replied, “I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did:

    21. Josh 7:21When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

    22. Josh 7:22So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there it all was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.

    23. Josh 7:23They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD.

    24. Josh 7:24Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.

    25. Josh 7:25“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.

    26. Josh 7:26And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 283 passages were voted onto 24 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 1Joshua 22:20Was not Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’”
    • 191 Samuel 6:5Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.
    • 1Ecclesiastes 9:18Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
    • 9Exodus 32:12Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.
    • 13Lamentations 3:40–41Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.
    • 25Joshua 6:18But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it.
    • 11 Chronicles 2:6–7The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara—five in all.
    • 2Joshua 18:12On the north side their border began at the Jordan, went up past the northern slope of Jericho, headed west through the hill country, and came out at the wilderness of Beth-aven.
    • 4Deuteronomy 28:25The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
    • 12Psalms 5:4–5For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; no evil can dwell with You.
    • 13Joshua 3:5Then Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
    • 19Jeremiah 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.
    • 1Joshua 7:20–21“It is true,” Achan replied, “I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did:
    • 11 Chronicles 21:7This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel.
    • 4Leviticus 26:17And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
    • 5Joshua 2:11When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.

    Onward

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