13. “Now go! Have the people make themselves holy for me. Tell them, ‘Set yourselves apart to the Lord for tomorrow. The Lord, the God of Israel, says some of you are keeping things he commanded you to destroy. You will never defeat your enemies until you throw away those things.
14. “‘Tomorrow morning you must all stand before the Lord. All the tribes will stand before him. The Lord will choose one tribe. And that tribe must stand alone before him. Then the Lord will choose one family group from that tribe. And that family group must stand alone before him. Then the Lord will choose one family from that family group. And it must stand alone before him. Then the Lord will look at that family man by man.
15. The man who is keeping what should have been destroyed will himself be destroyed by fire. And everything he owns will be destroyed with him. He has broken the agreement with the Lord. He has done a disgraceful thing among the people of Israel!’”
16. Early the next morning Joshua led all of Israel before the Lord. All of the tribes stood before him. And the Lord chose the tribe of Judah.
17. So all the family groups of Judah stood before the Lord. The Lord then chose the family group of Zerah. And all the families of Zerah stood before the Lord. Then the family of Zimri was chosen.
18. And Joshua told all the men in that family to come before the Lord. The Lord chose Achan son of Carmi. (Carmi was the son of Zimri. And Zimri was the son of Zerah.)
19. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, you should tell the truth. Confess to the Lord, the God of Israel. Tell me what you did. Don’t try to hide anything from me.”
20. Achan answered, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did:
21. Among the things I saw was a beautiful coat from Babylonia. And I saw about five pounds of silver and more than one and one-quarter pounds of gold. I wanted these things very much for myself. So I took them. You will find them buried in the ground under my tent. The silver is under the coat.”
22. So Joshua sent some men to the tent. They ran to the tent and found the things hidden there. The silver was under the coat.
23. The men brought them out of the tent. Then they took them to Joshua and all the Israelites. They spread them out on the ground before the Lord.
24. Then Joshua and all the people led Achan son of Zerah to the Valley of Trouble. They also took the silver, the coat and the gold. They took Achan’s sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, tent and everything he owned.