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. ¹ 

“Everything devoted ¹  in Israel will be yours.

You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath ¹  along with it. ²  You must absolutely detest ³  and abhor it, ⁴  for it is an object of divine wrath.

The son ¹  of Carmi: Achan, ²  who brought the disaster on Israel when he stole what was devoted to God. ³ 

So I defiled your holy princes, and handed Jacob over to destruction, and subjected ¹  Israel to humiliating abuse.”

When it reverts ¹  in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field; ²  it will become the priest’s property. ³ 

Any human being who is permanently dedicated ¹  must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.

But the army took from the plunder some of the sheep and cattle – the best of what was to be slaughtered – to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

He says, ¹  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ²  Look, it now descends on Edom, ³  on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

They may eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs.

The Babylonian tyrant ¹  pulls them all up with a fishhook; he hauls them in with his throw net. ²  When he catches ³  them in his dragnet, he is very happy. ⁴ 

Because of his success ¹  he offers sacrifices to his throw net and burns incense to his dragnet; ²  for because of them he has plenty of food, ³  and more than enough to eat. ⁴ 

Will he then ¹  continue to fill and empty his throw net? ²  Will he always ³  destroy ⁴  nations and spare none? ⁵ 

And people will settle there, and there will no longer be the threat of divine extermination – Jerusalem will dwell in security.

“‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord ¹  from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord.

But the Israelites disobeyed the command about the city’s riches. ¹  Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, ²  son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, stole some of the riches. ³  The Lord was furious with the Israelites. ⁴ 

The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation. ¹  I will no longer be with you, ²  unless you destroy what has contaminated you. ³ 

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, ¹  O Israel! You will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove what is contaminating you.” ² 

The prophet ¹  then said to him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Because you released a man I had determined should die, you will pay with your life and your people will suffer instead of his people.’” ² 

She will be a place where fishing nets are spread, surrounded by the sea. For I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations,