FREE AT LAST

Joshua chapter 7




Today we are walking in: Free At Last




Exodus 40:35




And Moses was not able to enter H935 into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.










ENTER








Today we look to the word ENTER--H935 bow' -- Come, Bring, In, Enter, Go, Carry, Down, Pass, Out









The Torah testifies.........……




Deuteronomy 23:2

A bastard shall not enter H935 into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.












The prophets proclaim..................




Jeremiah 17:25

Then shall there enter H935 into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.













The writings bear witness............




Psalms 45:15

With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter H935 into the king's palace.




Free at Last




In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves self-discipline with all of them came first.

-Harry S. Truman




Free at last ... free at last ... thank Yah Almighty, I'm free at last!" These powerful words of America's great civil rights deliverer, Martin Luther King, Jr., stunned the world as he spoke them to millions over radio and TV in the 1960s. Dr. King, like Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Gandhi in India and other lesser-known social deliverers around the world,laid down his life and future to make civil rights available to the world's disadvantaged communities. But these men, as great as their efforts proved, were only their followers' deliverers, because freedom is a matter of the mind. Men can deliver you, but it is what you know that makes you free.




Today millions of the followers whom these great civil rights leaders gathered are still prisoners in their minds. True freedom is a matter of the mind-not of human law. And true freedom involves much more work than does slavery-because freedom imposes more restraints on an individual than does slavery.




The Essence Of Freedom




Freedom is the discovery of truth about yourself. Truth brings freedom. True freedom will liberate you to become all you were created to be. It gives liberty to work within the laws of life. Under slavery you are under another's law. A whip is used to enforce that law. But when you come into freedom, you must obey internal laws. The pressure is on you to keep those laws by yourself. Freedom is self imposed discipline.




If you were my slave on a nineteenth-century cotton plantation, I could post ten things on the wall of the slave house with which you would be required to comply daily. When you got up in the morning, you would know exactly what to do. You wouldn't even have to think or plan your day. Your every waking moment would be set out for you down to the minute-and I would do the planning.




If one day I chose to set you free, you would have your own house in your own community, but through the gaining of your freedom you would lose my ten rules. Suddenly you would be thrust into a world with thousands of alternatives,and you would have to choose which choices were best for you. You would have to live right without anyone watching you. Remember, discipline is remembering what you want.




That is the truth of living free. You must freely choose your own laws for living, and you must live with the consequences of your choices. Freedom is taking responsibility for your life. It is designing your own destiny and deciding your own consequences. Let's take a closer look at some principles of freedom.




1. In freedom, you are the boss whether you work for another or not.




In freedom there is no one to blame for your victories or mistakes except yourself. You may be three generations out of the slave house, but if you are still blaming your culture for your problems, you are a long way from being truly free. This is why the apostle James writes, "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom" (James 2:12). The law that gives freedom, says James, is Yah's law to choose freely. James instructs us to know and live in Yah's truth, which can change our minds and improve our behavior. Freedom is a matter of the mind.




When a man understands his freedom in relation to Yah, he will honor the laws of the land that don't violate Yah's law. The laws of man were never intended to be permanent fixtures. Legal statutes have been fashioned as regulatory principles to allow people to remain in society and to be productive. "If you don't do this," the law of man says, "we will allow you to live freely outside of our jails to do whatever you want to do within the limits of the law." In his first letter to Timothy, Paul writes:




We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the unYahly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed Yah, which he entrusted to me.

-1 TIMOTHY 1:8-11




Paul tells us that laws will always be necessary for those who act irresponsibly. The less responsible you are, the more laws you need. The more responsible you become, the less laws are required, because laws are intended to push you away from their requirements into the productivity of personal freedom.




The laws of Yah were handed down ultimately to lead men to freedom. But do you think Yah loves laws like "Thou shall not steal," "Thou shall not bear false witness" and "Thou shall not commit adultery"? I believe He hates those laws. But He had to establish them once Adam trespassed and stole the illegal fruit off the illegal tree. Society is so corrupt today that it can't handle the freedom of having a tin of tuna on the shelf by itself. Someone will snatch it if it's left unguarded. Leave a radio untended by your picnic table at the beach, and someone will come along to relieve you of it. Why? Because people, as a rule, can't handle freedom. So Yah imposes law.




Young people today are lawless because they are irresponsible. This is why children need laws, not negotiation, discussion or compromise. They can't handle freedom. Yet in many parts of the world, society has licensed their lawlessness by giving them rights as juveniles to be free from the penalty of law or the discipline of their parents.




Yah knows Adam's descendants can't keep their hands off the five thousand dollars on the counter. He knows we humans need our "No Trespassing" signs to keep us out of jail. And Christians aren't immune. You know that, don't you? If you don't think that born-again, Spirit-filled Christians break the Ten Commandments on any given day, you really don't know what is happening in the Christian world daily.




The ministry has been gifted with the Holy Spirit and Yah's convicting Word, which can allow us to keep the Ten Commandments. Paul writes:




For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, Yah did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

-ROMANS 8:3-4




But if we neglect Yah's comfort and counsel, we can disobey Yah's "No Trespassing" signs as quickly as the unconverted.




You would be surprised how many Christians might steal a stapler or take some copier paper home from work because "everyone is doing it." Like others, they think they are "free to do it," while they break the law. The divorce rate in the church today is as high as in the world. And, yes, some Christians drink and even take drugs in the process of flunking a wilderness test.




Yah wants all men to live free, above the law, bound by a higher set of principles. This is why Yahusha came-to all men-to save all. True freedom requires law, because freedom without law is anarchy. True freedom operates out of internalized laws based on the principles of Yah. In essence, then, self control and self-discipline are both attributes of true freedom because discipline is self imposed law. This is freedom.




It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.




The freedom our Deliverer, Yahusha, came to bring has nothing to do with externally imposed law. Freedom says, "Stealing is not in my principle of living." If I see ten cents or ten thousand dollars, they are both the same to me because the same principle is present: I don't steal because I think it's wrong. True freedom has nothing to do with staying out of jail through complying with any set of laws. There are freer convicted criminals behind bars who have found Christ's freedom in their prison chapels than the guards who pass in and out of their cells as free citizens every day.




True freedom comes from moving into the responsibility of crossing over Jordan in personal accountability to Yah and His Word. Yahusha has proclaimed it and opened our prison doors, but we must take the responsibility to walk outside and be free. The decision is made in our mind. Themajor, dramatic difference we see between freedom and slavery is the fact that freedom is much harder to engage because of personal choice and accountability.




2. Freedom demands more work than slavery.




A second remarkable difference between freedom and slavery is that freedom demands more work than slavery. This doesn't seem to make sense, does it? Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites. He forced them to work, rise early, work hard and go to bed late. They were whipped when they worked slowly, and they were kicked, punched and spat upon when they rebelled. It was cruel and tough work.

-GALATIANS 5:1




Yet when you stop to think about it, freedom demands more work than slavery. Why? You will never qualify for freedom if you don't become industrious. When you seek Yah's will in the wilderness, He will administer your talents and send you to trade with the inhabitants in the promised land. You must take the land, and that takes WORK. There are no more instant miracles in Canaan. On the other side of the Jordan you must learn how to fast and pray to become a part of the miracle. You must milk the cow and scoop out the beehive to enjoy Canaan's milk and honey. It is there that Christ will hand you the money purse and give you the skills to fill it. You must work hard and maybe even fail at a business before you succeed. Management. Management.




I will never forget the scripture that changed my life years ago. It is found in the Book of Proverbs:

He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough!

-PROVERBS 28:19, NKJV




When I first read that verse, it frightened me. But I soon discovered that if we as a people don't take possession of our own territory, someone else will come and work it for us. If we as the ministry don't take responsibility for our own deliverance and freedom, we will soon find ourselves drifting back into Egypt.




We are living in a new era of responsibility today. Yah is cutting off the manna and telling us to roll up our sleeves. We had better learn to do some planting and digging, because He is shutting down the water and cutting off the free food. We had better learn how to sew, because from here on, our clothes will wear out.




The time for playing religious games is time spent in the wilderness. But the days are now short, and Yah needs Joshuas to fill and replenish the earth before the time on earth's clock ticks slowly away. There is no more time to play with the toys of Egypt. When Yah delivers us from the wilderness, He brings us into responsibility. We must get the education, wisdom and faith to work with Yah, or we will end up back in slavery while the teachable are taking the land.




Oh, if you are converted by Yah's Holy Spirit, you will make heaven-I'm not saying you will backslide and go to hell. When you die in the wilderness, the angels will bring your soul to paradise. What I am saying is that if you don't learn to shoulder the burden of freedom in this new era of responsibility, you will remain ignorant and bound by the oppressor while Yah's Joshuas take the land.




Yah is calling Joshuas from every community and nation to live free, management-minded, productive lives. Freedom involves more work than slavery because the work begins on the inside. In freedom there is no one to shout, "Get up, slave!" There is no one to beat you into submission when your mind doesn't want to comply. In freedom you have to get up by yourself. You can't bury your talent in the ground and expect the government to pay your way. You have to get out of the house, go to the job and stay there until lunch time. You have to come back from lunch in one hour and stay there until five (sometimes later). You can't leave, slack off or play hooky. When you have to work overtime, you may be compensated for it when you work for someone else. But there isn't any extra pay when you finally trade with your talents to the place where you are working for yourself. Freedom is hard work.




I'll never forget the first day I went to the university. I thought I was going to die. I was brought up in the system in which everything was laid out for you. But when I walked into class at the university that first day, the professor walked in and said, "Read chapters one through five. Yah bless you all, and do a paper in the morning." Then he quickly left.




I watched his back as he walked out the door and sat there terrified, thinking, Hey! Where are you going? Where's my teacher? I ran out to catch him in the hall with my big, thick history book in hand and said, "Excuse me, sir. You just gave an assignment. Aren't you going to teach us?"




"Where are you from? This is college, and in college you teach yourself."




Well, let me tell you, when he said that, my whole body went into spasms. So I held up that thick history book and asked, "You mean I have to study this huge book myself?"




"Yes," he said. "I'm just a resource person."




You're just a resource person? A resource person? I thought, feeling sorry for myself.




Well, I got over it and made it a responsibility to get organized quickly. I had to make my own schedule for running, studying and reading. I cut out TV and didn't go for pizza with the other students. Suddenly, I found myself having to make and follow my own plans, and it took more responsibility than I had ever been entrusted with. But it taught and trained me in the ways of freedom.




Our kids have it easy when I remind them, "Homework time!" But when you grow up and go to college, there isn't anyone to "remind" you. Freedom is rough. You have to work extra hard-harder than you ever did when you were enslaved in bondage, because now you have to be responsible from the inside out.




3. Freedom requires more responsibility than slavery.

The mistakes you made in the wilderness could destroy you in Canaan. The requirements of responsibility are at a much higher level in Canaan. After the younger generation was circumcised on the other side of Jordan, they proved their disciplined training by marching silently around the gates of Jericho. Could you imagine? Not one spoken question or gripe about the redundant marching they were doing. (Now that's disciplined training. Their parents had complained with every wilderness step they took.) Then, on the seventh time around, this younger generation shouted as Yah had commanded, and Jericho's walls came down.




Yah has said that Israel would be invincible-and now they knew it! Their next military objective was the little town of Al. But no one knew that within their ranks was one man who had disobeyed Yah's command recorded in Joshua 6:18.




But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, lest you covet them and take some of the things under the ban, so you would make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it.

-NAS




Jericho was an amazing victory, so Israel sent out spies to determine the number of troops it would take to destroy Al. When they moved in to attack, "they were routed by the men of Al, who killed about thirty-sixof them" (Josh. 7:4-5).




Yah told Israel in the wilderness that they would win every Promised Land war. He said that He would be with them and that they would conquer the land. But now, because of one man by the name of Achan, the entire nation would have to pay the price. One man broke the law. But the Bible says, "The Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things" (emphasis added). Achan is singled out in the next sentence, but the entire nation of Israel was charged with his offense: "Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Most High'S anger burned against Israel" (Josh. 7:1).




Well, Joshua was completely confused about the whole situation and fell on his face before Yah. "What's wrong?" he asked. So Yah told him that someone had broken His law of the Jericho ban. Then without informing him of who the law breaker was, Yah told Joshua to deal with it by bringing every person before him "clan by clan.... He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Most High and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!" (Josh. 7:14-15). Achan was stoned and burned, but not before thirty-six innocent men had to pay for his offense.




Once Israel crossed over into Canaan, Yah didn't want the Israelites to think about doing what Achan had done again. So the Most High had the camp stone and burn everything Achan loved and owned.




Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.

-JOSHUA 7:25




This new century into which we are moving won't be like the baby days of our instant-miracle revivals. We won't be able to get away with the baby sins of the wilderness once we cross over the Jordan into Yah's promised land of maturity. Yah is putting a heavy responsibility on us, and that is why we must watch for each other.




This isn't just Old Testament stuff. I believe we are heading back to the powerful days the early church experienced in the Book of Acts. Acts 5 tells us about a married couple by the name of Ananias and Sapphira who were struck dead because of lying about an amount of money they put in the offering plate. Verse 11 tells us, "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events."




The amount of money wasn't the issue; it was Ananias and Sapphira's lying that earned them the sentence of death. Like Achan, the couple lost their lives to stop their sin from spreading and killing others in the ministry community.




One man by the name of Achan stole and hid what Yah had instructed Israel not to touch. And because of his individual action, the entire nation was held to account. In freedom, everything you do affects someone else. If you neglect what you are supposed to do in your ministry, in your commitment, in your promise to others or in your business, it's no longer a personal thing. You can't just say, "I'm Not showing up tonight." In freedom, when you don't show up, someone gets hurt. True freedom doesn't presume the right to act without regard to the effect personal decisions would have on another s freedom. True freedom protects the freedom of others and acts responsibly on behalf of others.




If you know someone who is sinfully mismanaging his life today, go to him personally. Take responsibility. Say, "Listen, I've been concerned about you. You've been living badly, and I want you to stop because you are messing up your family, the community and the ministry ." There is little room for mistake when you're in the trenches fighting. It is time to start holding one another accountable. It is time to be responsible.




4. Freedom imposes more of the need for control than slavery.




We think of slavery as a lifestyle dominated by someone who has control over us. Yet freedom gives us the need for even more control. There is a slavery from which you can deliver yourself-like the slavery the Israelites experienced when they were bound in Egypt. But there is also a slavery that you impose on yourself by your own irresponsible decisions. So, because of the eternal implications our decisions can have on ourselves and others every day, this principle of freedom declares our need for internal control.




The great ministry planter and apostle Paul mentioned this in 1 Corinthians 6:12 when he wrote, "Everything is permissible for me-but I will not be mastered by anything." I believe Yah is going to demand an account of everything that we do from now on.




We must exercise a kind of control in freedom that we didn't need in slavery-self-control. There are too many opportunities today to be lazy and controlled by external things. There are too many television sets and video machines invading and enslaving our homes. There are too many cable networks and Hollywood movies. And there are too many recreation sites and beaches with fast cars to get us there.




It's easy to control slaves held in bondage, because you can impose the whip. You can impose the gun. You can impose the dogs. You can threaten someone by withholding their food or by taking away any number of privileges.




But freedom has even more controls than slavery, because in freedom you have to control yourself. You are the one who says when you will or won't watch TV. You are the one who says you will or won't read. No one can force you to do anything in freedom, except you. And that is harder work than having someone impose controls on you.




You are responsible for getting yourself up and off to work in freedom. Then it is up to you to stay on the job once you get there. You are the one who must make your own budget and choose not to spend money on hamburgers when you need to pay the house rent. That's a lot of self control, isn't it?




You are the one in freedom who gets to pass up the extra helping of barbecued chicken, rice and beans, macaroni and cheese and guava duff pastries for dessert. Don't you wish Yah would control your diet? I do. I hate buffets because they really test my responsibility. When I go down that long line of food, there isn't anyone to stop me, and my stomach shouts, "Cheesecake, chicken and rice!" And it is then that the reality of appetite freedom can really hit. Your stomach says, "Stop!" But your eyes say, "More!" Don't you wish Yah would tell you what to eat and make you stop when it was enough? "That's it, My son. Thou shalt eat no more." Wouldn't that be great? You would have the shape you had ten years ago. Under the oppressor, he controlled when, what and how much you ate. There was no need for self control.




But this just doesn't happen. And this is why one of the fruits of the Spirit is self control (Gal. 5:23). If you don't control yourself, someone else will. A fruit isn't automatically bestowed, it grows. Joshua's Promised Land instruction of meditating on Yah's Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to circumcise the memory of our slavery in the past isso important in freedom. (See Joshua 1:8.)




So you see, in freedom you need more control than you do in slavery, because in slavery they give you a quarter of a rib and that's it. And when you have a measly quarter rib, you don't have the need to impose control on yourself.




We are all to grow up as spiritual examples and mature leaders. Scripture instructs leaders to be self controlled. Writing to his companion and fellow leader, Titus, the apostle Paul said a leader "must be blameless-not overbearing, not quick- tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self controlled, upright, holy and disciplined" (Titus 1:7-8). To Timothy, Paul wrote that leaders must "first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve" (1 Tim. 3:10).




Self Control is an attribute in freedom that slavery knows little about. The "if it feels good do it" mentality of the modern world is going to have to be purged from the twenty first- century citizen as we put our feet in the Jordan in the years to come. I know, we would just love to be "twanged" with a holy staff like Moses carried at salvation, and live our lives completely controlled from above. But it doesn't happen that way. Freedom happens when we allow Yah to lead us out of the wilderness into the fruitful work of Canaan-from dependency to responsibility.




I expect to see millions of mature believers who are not afraid of a good fight before I die. I'm talking about people who will take on the biggest challenges, quite aware of what it takes to win. I long to see a generation who will embrace the spirit of responsibility and industry. A generation who can handle failure and success effectively.




I've never met a boxer who is world champion who didn't lose some rounds. No one remembers the losses when he holds the winner's belt. But back in the fourth round, there he was, bloody and all beaten up, barely making it back to the corner. His manager said, "You can get him." The boxer protested, "Are you crazy? I'm not going back out there. You go out there and see how you like it! I can't see, and my arms are tired." So the manager massaged him and told him he could do it. Then he doused him with water, made sure the butterfly bandage on his eye was secure, rubbed his shoulders and told him to go back out there and get that opponent.




That's what Yah does when you come back in from the fight of the day feeling as if you aren't going to make it. As you stand faithfully in your disciplined self control, the Holy Spirit soaks you in your corner with His holy bucket of the Word and the sponge, and says, "You're going back out there, and you are going to fight!" Then He rubs your shoulders and reminds you, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Now get out there and fight take that land!"




Our days of running and hiding are over. You have to fight to get stuff out of life on the other side of Jordan.Yahusha' wilderness experience speaks volumes to us. Following His baptism of the Spirit in the Jordan, the wilderness provided His testing ground, and He came out victorious in the anointing of Yah's power. From that day forward He worked in His calling of ministry, sometimes twenty-four hours a day, to fulfill Yah's will. His land of Canaan was teeming with the work of Satan, who had bound mankind in death. But Yahusha dispossessed him, just as you are called to do in Haiti, Africa, America or wherever you live. To experience your true freedom you must successfully face and overcome the "ites"-the Moabites, Jebusites, Canaanites and all obstacles in the way of what Yah promised you.




MANAGEMENT!




Those of us with ears to hear today can hear the Jordan rushing over the hill. We are at the end of our generation. Yah is saying, "Your wilderness days are gone. So get ready. Say good-bye to the manna. The easy ways are shutting down. Your long walk to nowhere is coming to an end." Get ready for responsibility. Get ready for work. Accept the wonderful burden of freedom and live at maximum.




Yahusha is issuing swords and purses to His people around the world. Yes, the "ites" are in the land, and they won't bow just because it's Sunday and we're dressed to the hilt. But Yah will fight with us as we march over the hill.

What resources has Yah entrusted to you? What will you do tomorrow to discover and improve the talents He has entrusted to you? Easy miracles are for babies. Collaborative miracles are for sons. So let us move on into the twenty first century as promised land sons and daughters who are competent in Yah's affairs .




People are made of the sum total of the choices and decisions they make every day. Management, management, management! It's time to move in!

Decide your destiny! Accept your freedom. Take your position. Respond to responsibility.







FREE AT LAST




1. True freedom is a matter of the mind-not of human law.




2. Freedom is taking responsibility for your life. It is designing your destiny and deciding your own consequences.




3. The less responsible you are, the more laws you need.




4. Self Control and self-discipline are both attributes of true freedom because discipline is self imposed law. This is freedom.




5. True freedom doesn't presume the right to act without regard to the effect personal decisions would have on another's freedom. True freedom protects the freedom of others and acts responsibly on behalf of others.




6. We must exercise a kind of control in freedom that we didn't need in slavery-self-control!

Joshua 7




But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Most High was kindled against the children of Israel.




2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.




3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.




4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.




5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.




6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Most High until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.




7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Most High Yah, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to Yah we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!




8 O Most High, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!




9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?




10 And the Most High said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?




11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.




12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.




13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Most High Yah of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.




14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Most High taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Most High shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Most High shall take shall come man by man.




15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Most High, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.




16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:




17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:




18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.




19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Most High Yah of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.




20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Most High Yah of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:




21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.




22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.




23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Most High.




24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.




25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Most High shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.




26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Most High turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.