Deuteronomy 7:26

7:26 You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath along with it. You must absolutely detest and abhor it, for it is an object of divine wrath.

Deuteronomy 13:17

13:17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors.

Joshua 6:18

6:18 But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster.

Joshua 7:11-15

7:11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment! They have taken some of the riches; they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions. 7:12 The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation. 10  I will no longer be with you, 11  unless you destroy what has contaminated you. 12  7:13 Get up! Ritually consecrate the people and tell them this: ‘Ritually consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, because the Lord God of Israel says, “You are contaminated, 13  O Israel! You will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove what is contaminating you.” 14  7:14 In the morning you must approach in tribal order. 15  The tribe the Lord selects 16  must approach by clans. The clan the Lord selects must approach by families. 17  The family the Lord selects must approach man by man. 18  7:15 The one caught with the riches 19  must be burned up 20  along with all who belong to him, because he violated the Lord’s covenant and did such a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

Joshua 7:25

7:25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster 21  on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you today!” All Israel stoned him to death. (They also stoned and burned the others.) 22 

Joshua 22:20

22:20 When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged, 23  though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!’” 24 


tn Heb “come under the ban” (so NASB); NRSV “be set apart for destruction.” The same phrase occurs again at the end of this verse.

tn Or “like it is.”

tn This Hebrew verb (שָׁקַץ, shaqats) is essentially synonymous with the next verb (תָעַב, taav; cf. תּוֹעֵבָה, toevah; see note on the word “abhorrent” in v. 25), though its field of meaning is more limited to cultic abomination (cf. Lev 11:11, 13; Ps 22:25).

tn Heb “detesting you must detest and abhorring you must abhor.” Both verbs are preceded by a cognate infinitive absolute indicating emphasis.

tn Or “anything that has been put under the divine curse”; Heb “anything of the ban” (cf. NASB). See note on the phrase “divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.

tn Heb “Only you keep [away] from what is set apart [to the Lord] so that you might not, as you are setting [it] apart, take some of what is set apart [to the Lord] and make the camp of Israel set apart [to destruction by the Lord] and bring trouble on it.”

tn Heb “They have violated my covenant which I commanded them.”

tn Heb “what was set apart [to the Lord].”

tn Heb “and also they have stolen, and also they have lied, and also they have placed [them] among their items.”

10 tn Heb “they turn [the] back before their enemies because they are set apart [to destruction by the Lord].”

11 tn The second person pronoun is plural in Hebrew, indicating these words are addressed to the entire nation.

12 tn Heb “what is set apart [to destruction by the Lord] from your midst.”

13 tn Heb “what is set apart [to destruction by the Lord] [is] in your midst.”

14 tn Heb “remove what is set apart [i.e., to destruction by the Lord] from your midst.”

15 tn Heb “by your tribes.”

16 tn Heb “takes forcefully, seizes.”

17 tn Heb “houses.”

18 tn Heb “by men.”

19 tn Heb “with what was set apart [to the Lord].”

20 tn Heb “burned with fire.”

21 tn Or “trouble.” The word is “achor” in Hebrew (also in the following clause).

22 tc Heb “and they burned them with fire and they stoned them with stones.” These words are somewhat parenthetical in nature and are omitted in the LXX; they may represent a later scribal addition.

23 tn Heb “Is it not [true that] Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the Lord] and against all the assembly of Israel there was anger?”

24 tn The second half of the verse reads literally, “and he [was] one man, he did not die for his sin.” There are at least two possible ways to explain this statement: (1) One might interpret the statement to mean that Achan was not the only person who died for his sin. In this case it could be translated, “and he was not the only one to die because of his sin.” (2) Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to take the words וְהוּא אִישׁ אֶחָד (vÿhu’ ’ishekhad, “and he [was] one man”) as a concessive clause and join it with what precedes. The remaining words (לֹא גָוַע בַּעֲוֹנוֹ, logavabaavono) must then be taken as a rhetorical question (“Did he not die for his sin?”). Taking the last sentence as interrogative is consistent with the first part of the verse, a rhetorical question introduced with the interrogative particle. The present translation has converted these rhetorical questions into affirmative statements to bring out more clearly the points they are emphasizing. For further discussion, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 240.