YAHWEH spoke to Joshua: “Stand up! Why are you groveling before me? Israel has sinned! They have broken the covenant which I had commanded them to keep. They have taken forbidden plunder. They have stolen from me, taken what is mine, hidden it among their belongings, and lied about it. Cursed things are among you! That is why Israel is powerless, has retreated from their enemies, and is in danger of annihilation. If you do not get rid of these cursed things from among you, I will not go with you any longer. Get up and purify the people in preparation for tomorrow. Tell them, ‘This is what YAHWEH, the God of Israel says: “O Israel, you have in your midst what must be devoted entirely to me! You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove the devoted things from your midst!” Tomorrow morning, you shall present yourselves by tribes. YAHWEH will indicate which tribe must come forward by clans. YAHWEH will indicate which clan must come forward by families. And YAHWEH will indicate which family must come forward one by one. Then finally, YAHWEH will expose the man caught with the devoted things, which must be destroyed by fire. Everything that man owns you must likewise destroy by fire, for he has violated the covenant of YAHWEH and committed an outrageous act in Israel!’ ”
Joshua was up at the crack of dawn and had Israel come forward by tribes, and YAHWEH indicated the tribe of Judah. Joshua then had the clans of Judah come forward, and YAHWEH picked out the clan of Zerah. Joshua then had the clan of Zerah come forward and YAHWEH indicated the family of Zimri. Joshua then had Zimri’s family come forward one by one, and YAHWEH picked out Achan, the son of Carmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.
Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to YAHWEH, the God of Israel, and confess. Tell me the truth and do not hide anything from him. What have you done?”
“It’s true,” Achan said. “I’ve sinned against YAHWEH, the God of Israel. This is what I did: I saw among the plunder an exquisite robe from Babylon, two hundred pieces of silver, and a fifty-shekel bar of gold. I wanted them badly, so I took them and buried them in my tent with the silver underneath.”
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