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Psalm 82

1  God has taken his stand in the council of heaven; ♦︎
   in the midst of the gods he gives judgement:
2  ‘How long will you judge unjustly ♦︎
   and show such favour to the wicked?
3  ‘You were to judge the weak and the orphan; ♦︎
   defend the right of the humble and needy;
4  ‘Rescue the weak and the poor; ♦︎
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5  ‘They have no knowledge or wisdom;
      they walk on still in darkness: ♦︎
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6  ‘Therefore I say that though you are gods ♦︎
   and all of you children of the Most High,
7  ‘Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals ♦︎
   and fall like one of their princes.’
8  Arise, O God and judge the earth, ♦︎
   for it is you that shall take all nations for your possession.

The Sin of Achan and Its Punishment

7But the Israelites broke faith in regard to the devoted things: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the Lord burned against the Israelites.

10 The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face? ¹¹Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings. ¹²Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted for destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. ¹³Proceed to sanctify the people, and say, “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘There are devoted things among you, O Israel; you will be unable to stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.’ ¹⁴In the morning therefore you shall come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that the Lord takes shall come near by clans, the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household that the Lord takes shall come near one by one. ¹⁵And the one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire, together with all that he has, for having transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and for having done an outrageous thing in Israel.” ’

16 So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷He brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken; and he brought near the clan of the Zerahites, family by family,^* and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸And he brought near his household one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.’ ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua, ‘It is true; I am the one who sinned against the Lord God of Israel. This is what I did: ²¹when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. They now lie hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. ²³They took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites; and they spread them out before the Lord. ²⁴Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, with the silver, the mantle, and the bar of gold, with his sons and daughters, with his oxen, donkeys, and sheep, and his tent and all that he had; and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵Joshua said, ‘Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord is bringing trouble on you today.’ And all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them, ²⁶and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place to this day is called the Valley of Achor.^*

26 For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a fearful prospect of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ²⁸Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ²⁹How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ ³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.