But the children of Israel transgressed the commandment, and took to their own use of the anathema. For Achan the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare of the tribe of Juda, took something of the anathema: and the Lord was angry against the children of Israel.

Filii autem Israël prævaricati sunt mandatum, et usurpaverunt de anathemate. Nam Achan filius Charmi filii Zabdi filii Zare de tribu Juda tulit aliquid de anathemate: iratusque est Dominus contra filios Israël.

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.

And when Josue sent men from Jericho against Hai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of the town of Bethel, he said to them: Go up, and view the country: and they fulfilled his command, and viewed Hai.

Cumque mitteret Josue de Jericho viros contra Hai, quæ est juxta Bethaven, ad orientalem plagam oppidi Bethel, dixit eis: Ascendite, et explorate terram. Qui præcepta complentes exploraverunt Hai.

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,

And returning they said to him: Let not all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go and destroy the city: why should all the people be troubled in vain against enemies that are very few?

Et reversi dixerunt ei: Non ascendat omnis populus, sed duo vel tria millia virorum pergant, et deleant civitatem: quare omnis populus frustra vexabitur contra hostes paucissimos?

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.

There went up therefore three thousand fighting men: who immediately turned their backs,

Ascenderunt ergo tria millia pugnatorum. Qui statim terga vertentes,

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

And were defeated by the men of the city of Hai, and there fell of them six and thirty men: and the enemies pursued them from the gate as far as Sabarim, and they slew them as they fled by the descent: and the heart of the people was struck with fear, and melted like water.

percussi sunt a viris urbis Hai, et corruerunt ex eis triginta sex homines: persecutique sunt eos adversarii de porta usque ad Sabarim, et ceciderunt per prona fugientes: pertimuitque cor populi, et instar aquæ liquefactum est.

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.

But Josue rent his garments, and fell flat on the ground before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and all the ancients of Israel: and they put dust upon their heads.

Josue vero scidit vestimenta sua, et pronus cecidit in terram coram arca Domini usque ad vesperam, tam ipse quam omnes senes Israël: miseruntque pulverem super capita sua,

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.

And Josue said: Alas, O Lord God, why wouldst thou bring this people over the river Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and to destroy us? would God, we had stayed beyond the Jordan as we began.

et dixit Josue: Heu Domine Deus, quid voluisti traducere populum istum Jordanem fluvium, ut traderes nos in manus Amorrhæi, et perderes? utinam ut cœpimus, mansissemus trans Jordanem.

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.

My Lord God, what shall I say, seeing Israel turning their backs to their enemies?

Mi Domine Deus, quid dicam, videns Israëlem hostibus suis terga vertentem?

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

The Chanaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and being gathered together will surround us and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do to thy great name?

Audient Chananæi, et omnes habitatores terræ, et pariter conglobati circumdabunt nos, atque delebunt nomen nostrum de terra: et quid facies magno nomini tuo?

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?

And the Lord said to Josue: Arise, why liest thou flat on the ground?

Dixitque Dominus ad Josue: Surge: cur jaces pronus in terra?

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

Israel hath sinned, and transgressed my covenant: and they have taken of the anathema, and have stolen and lied, and have hidden it among their goods.

Peccavit Israël, et prævaricatus est pactum meum: tuleruntque de anathemate, et furati sunt atque mentiti, et absconderunt inter vasa sua.

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.

Neither can Israel stand before his enemies, but he shall flee from them: because he is defiled with the anathema. I will be no more with you, till you destroy him that is guilty of this wickedness.

Nec poterit Israël stare ante hostes suos, eosque fugiet: quia pollutus est anathemate. Non ero ultra vobiscum, donec conteratis eum qui hujus sceleris reus est.

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.

Arise, sanctify the people, and say to them: Be ye sanctified against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel: The anathema is in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thy enemies, till he be destroyed out of thee that is defiled with this wickedness.

Surge, sanctifica populum, et dic eis: Sanctificamini in crastinum: hæc enim dicit Dominus Deus Israël: Anathema in medio tui est, Israël: non poteris stare coram hostibus tuis, donec deleatur ex te qui hoc contaminatus est scelere.

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.

And you shall come in the morning every one by your tribes: and what tribe soever the lot shall find, it shall come by its kindreds and the kindred by its houses, and the house by the men.

Accedetisque mane singuli per tribus vestras: et quamcumque tribum sors invenerit, accedet per cognationes suas, et cognatio per domos, domusque per viros.

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.

And whosoever he be that shall be found guilty of this fact, he shall be burnt with fire with all his substance, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and hath done wickedness in Israel.

Et quicumque ille in hoc facinore fuerit deprehensus, comburetur igni cum omni substantia sua: quoniam prævaricatus est pactum Domini, et fecit nefas in Israël.

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.

Josue, therefore, when he rose in the morning, made Israel to come by their tribes, and the tribe of Juda was found,

Surgens itaque Josue mane, applicuit Israël per tribus suas, et inventa est tribus Juda.

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;

Which being brought by in families, it was found to be the family of Zare. Bringing that also by the houses, he found it to be Zabdi.

Quæ cum juxta familias suas esset oblata, inventa est familia Zare. Illam quoque per domos offerens, reperit Zabdi:

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

And bringing his house man by man, he found Achan the son of Charmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zare of the tribe of Juda.

cujus domum in singulos dividens viros, invenit Achan filium Charmi filii Zabdi filii Zare de tribu Juda.

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

And Josue said to Achan: My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and confess, and tell me what thou hast done, hide it not.

Et ait Josue ad Achan: Fili mi, da gloriam Domino Deo Israël, et confitere, atque indica mihi quid feceris, ne abscondas.

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 answered Josue, and said to him: Indeed I have sinned against the Lord the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.

Responditque Achan Josue, et dixit ei: Vere ego peccavi Domino Deo Israël, et sic et sic feci.

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

For I saw among the spoils a scarlet garment exceeding good, and two hundred sicles of silver, and a golden rule of fifty sicles: and I coveted them, and I took them away, and hid them in the ground in the midst of my tent, and the silver I covered with the earth that I dug up.

Vidi enim inter spolia pallium coccineum valde bonum, et ducentos siclos argenti, regulamque auream quinquaginta siclorum: et concupiscens abstuli, et abscondi in terra contra medium tabernaculi mei, argentumque fossa humo operui.

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.

Josue therefore sent ministers: who running to his tent, found all hidden in the same place, together with the silver.

Misit ergo Josue ministros: qui currentes ad tabernaculum illius, repererunt cuncta abscondita in eodem loco, et argentum simul.

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

And taking them away out of the tent, they brought them to Josue, and to all the children of Israel, and threw them down before the Lord.

Auferentesque de tentorio, tulerunt ea ad Josue, et ad omnes filios Israël, projeceruntque ante Dominum.

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.

Then Josue and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zare, and the silver and the garments, and the golden rule, his sons also and his daughters, his oxen and asses and sheep, the tent also, and all the goods: and brought them to the valley of Achor:

Tollens itaque Josue Achan filium Zare, argentumque et pallium, et auream regulam, filios quoque et filias ejus, boves et asinos et oves, ipsumque tabernaculum, et cunctam supellectilem (et omnis Israël cum eo), duxerunt eos ad vallem Achor:

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.

Where Josue said: Because thou hast troubled us, the Lord trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him: and all things that were his, were consumed with fire.

ubi dixit Josue: Quia turbasti nos, exturbet te Dominus in die hac. Lapidavitque eum omnis Israël: et cuncta quæ illius erant, igne consumpta sunt.

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.

And they gathered together upon him a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day. And the wrath of the Lord was turned away from them. And the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor, until this day.

Congregaveruntque super eum acervum magnum lapidum, qui permanet usque in præsentem diem. Et aversus est furor Domini ab eis. Vocatumque est nomen loci illius, vallis Achor, usque hodie.

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.