But now Israel broke its faith by turning the forfeited plunder to their own use. Achan, a man of Juda, descended from Zare through Charmi and Zabdi, took some of the plunder for himself, and God was angry with the people of Israel.

From Jericho, Josue sent a party of men over to Hai (which is close by Bethaven, eastwards from Bethel), bidding them survey its territory; and they, when they had finished their task at Hai,

gave a confident report: There is no need for the whole people to take part in the attack. Send two or three thousand men to overthrow the city; it were idle to set a whole army toiling over a handful of enemies.

So three thousand men went up to the assault and were soon put to rout.

The men of Hai killed thirty-six of them, pursued them all the way to Sabarim, and fell upon them as they fled down the slopes.

Small wonder if the people lost heart and their courage ebbed away like water.

Josue himself rent his garments, and fell down, face to earth, before the ark of God. There he lay till nightfall, and all the elders of Israel with him, defiling their heads with dust.

Ah, Lord God, cried Josue, was it for this thou didst make the passage of Jordan so easy for us, to put us at the mercy of the Amorrhites, and compass our ruin? Better had we remained at our old post beyond the Jordan.

O Lord my God, that I should see Israel turn their backs before their enemies!

Here are tidings will rally the Chanaanites and their neighbours to whelm us, so that our very name will be forgotten among men; and thy name, Lord? That great renown of thine?

But the Lord said to Josue, Rise up; why dost thou lie there, face to ground?

Guilt rests on Israel; they have transgressed my covenant, by taking forfeited plunder for their own use; it has been stolen away secretly, and hidden among private goods.

How should Israel withstand the enemy? Turn their backs they must so long as the curse lies on them; until you make an end of the guilty man, I will fight on your side no longer.

Rise up, and bid the people cleanse themselves; tell them that to-morrow they must come into my presence undefiled. And give them this message from the Lord God of Israel: Israelites, you are harbouring forbidden spoil among you, and the guilty man must be destroyed before you can stand against your enemies.

In the morning you will come before me tribe by tribe; and the tribe on which the lot falls will come before me clan by clan, until one household of that clan, and one man of that household is convicted.

When he is convicted of such a crime, he and all that belongs to him must be given to the flames; he has transgressed the Lord’s covenant, and brought a curse on Israel.

So, when the next day dawned, Josue brought forward the tribes of Israel one by one, and when Juda was chosen, the clans of Juda;

and when Zare was chosen, the families of Zare; and when Zabdi was chosen, the household of Zabdi man by man.

So at last the choice fell upon Achan, son of Charmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda.

And now Josue said to Achan, My son, accept the arbitrament of the Lord God of Israel; own thy fault and tell me, without concealment, what thou hast done.

And Achan, in answer, told how he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel, told every circumstance of his fault.

I saw among the plunder, said he, a fine scarlet cloak, and two hundred pieces of silver, and a bar of gold that weighed fifty sicles; and, coveting the possession of them, I buried them in the ground in the middle of my tent, hiding the money with the rest.

So Josue sent couriers to his tent, and there they found all he had hidden, the money with the rest;

they brought it back from the tent to Josue and the whole assembly of Israel, and cast it down there in the Lord’s presence.

So Josue and the Israelites took Achan son of Zare to the valley of Achor, with the money and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters, his oxen, asses and sheep, his tent too with all that was in it.

And there Josue said, Thou hast brought trouble on us, and now it is the Lord’s turn to bring trouble on thee. And all the Israelites stoned him to death, and the flames burned all that was his.

They raised a great heap of stones over him, which stands there yet, to mark the place where the Lord’s anger was appeased; and it is called the Valley of Achor, Trouble, to this day.