⁶ Then Joshua ^(A)tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and ^(B)they put dust on their heads. ⁷ Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord ^[a]God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing ^[b]to dwell beyond the Jordan! ⁸ O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their ^[c]back before their enemies? ^9 (C)For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁰ So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned, and ^(D)they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. ¹² Therefore the ^(E)sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their ^[d]backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.

²⁰ So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and ^[a]this is what I did: ²¹ when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I ^(A)coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”