¹⁵ Whoever is caught with the devoted things^(A) shall be destroyed by fire,^(B) along with all that belongs to him.^(C) He has violated the covenant^(D) of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!’”^(E)

¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted^[a](A) to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute^(B) and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid^(C) the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things,^(D) so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction^(E) and bring trouble^(F) on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron^(G) are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

¹⁶ If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.^(A)”

²⁰ Therefore the Lord was very angry^(A) with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant^(B) I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me,

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned.^(A) I violated^(B) the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid^(C) of the men and so I gave in to them.