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Achan Is Punished for Stealing from the Lord

The Lord had said that everything in Jericho belonged to him.[a] But Achan[b] from the Judah tribe took some of the things from Jericho for himself. And so the Lord was angry with the Israelites, because one of them had disobeyed him.[c]

While Israel was still camped near Jericho, Joshua sent some spies with these instructions: “Go to the town of Ai[d] and find out whatever you can about the region around the town.”

The spies left and went to Ai, which is east of Bethel and near Beth-Aven. They went back to Joshua and reported, “You don't need to send the whole army to attack Ai—2,000 or 3,000 troops will be enough. Why bother the whole army for a town that small?”

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Footnotes

  1. 7.1 belonged to him: See the note at 6.17.
  2. 7.1 Achan: The Hebrew text has “Achan, son of Carmi, grandson of Abdi, and great-grandson of Zerah.”
  3. 7.1 the Lord was angry … disobeyed him: Even though only one person had disobeyed, it meant that the Lords instructions to the people of Israel had not been followed, and the whole nation was held responsible.
  4. 7.2 of Ai: Or “called The Ruins.”

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