Joshua 7:22-26, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Joshua 7:22-26
Achan's Household Is Destroyed in the Valley of Achor
Messengers find the goods under the tent
Joshua sends messengers. They run to the tent. The devoted things are hidden there, the silver under them. They take them to Joshua and all Israel and lay them out before the LORD. The confession matches the ground.
Achan, children, animals, and tent are destroyed in Achor
Joshua and all Israel take Achan, the silver, the garment, the gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, asses, sheep, tent, and all he has, and bring them to the valley of Achor. Joshua says, 'Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day.' All Israel stones him with stones and burns them with fire after stoning them. They raise a great heap of stones. The LORD turns from fierce anger. The place is called the valley of Achor to this day.
The Hebrew report moves between 'him' and 'them.' Sons and daughters are in the procession to the valley. Animals and the tent go with them. Family-wide killing is not a side note to skip, soften, or turn into a tidy lesson about private greed. The scene is morally severe. It does not authorize collective punishment, killing children, family retaliation, lynching, asset destruction, or any claim that violence purges a community's sin today.
How this should shape us
Say that children die in this valley, and refuse to copy it. Judge theft without destroying a household. Do not call a heap of stones over a family a way to turn away anger in your own time.
Teach it back
Explain Joshua 7:22-26 in your own words. Include its movement, relation to Deuteronomy and the rest of Joshua, one material uncertainty or ethical cost, and one modern use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters differ over the composition, historical value, textual form, geography, and theological judgment of “Achan's Household Is Destroyed in the Valley of Achor.” Confidence is strongest in the final-form movement summarized here; reconstructions beyond it remain labeled and limited.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Joshua 7:22-26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clauses, names, repeated roots, boundary formulas, covenant terms, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Josh.xml, 7:22–26
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, textual, translation, list, number, geographical, historical, and cross-reference notes.
NET Bible Joshua PDF, printed pp. 428-429, translation and translator notes on 7:22–26
Supports: Whole-book movement, literary boundaries, composition, history and archaeology limits, geography, theology, and material interpretive alternatives.
Nelson, 'Joshua,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 164-165, discussion of 7:22–26
Supports: Modern research plurality across textual criticism, composition, history, archaeology, geography, violence, ideology, and reception.
Dozeman, 'The Book of Joshua in Recent Research,' Currents in Biblical Research 15.3 (2017), printed pp. 270–288; research categories and bibliography applied cautiously to 7:22–26
Supports: The conquest narrative's violent literary and ideological functions and the need for explicit modern ethical resistance.
Barnard and Meyer, 'A Theological Response to Biblical Violence,' Scriptura 119.1 (2020), printed pp. 1–15, especially pp. 7–15 on Joshua 6–11, literary setting, social identity, hybridity, courage, fear, and ethical response; 7:22–26
Supports: One modern recovery-reading alternative that distinguishes divine speech from Joshua's actions and explicitly rejects genocidal application.
Bang, 'A Reading of Recovery for an Ethical Interpretation of Joshua Herem Passages,' KJOTS 27.1 (2021), official English abstract and article record for pp. 61–96; case-study scope 7:22–26
Supports: The unusual collective-blame problem, limits of easy corporate-personality explanations, and the rhetorical significance of the spies' report.
Berman, 'The Making of the Sin of Achan (Joshua 7),' Biblical Interpretation 22.2 (2014), official abstract and record for pp. 115–131; applied to 7:22–26
Supports: Masoretic, Old Greek, Qumran, and revision evidence plus a focused case study showing why ancient textual differences require visible limits.
De Troyer, 'The Battle against Ai and the Textual History of the Book of Joshua,' JSCS 48 (2015), printed pp. 39–53, especially pp. 39–43 on book-wide MT-OG differences and pp. 43–53 on Joshua 8; applied to 7:22–26
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Joshua 7:22-26, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Joshua
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clauses, names, repeated roots, boundary formulas, covenant terms, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Josh.xml, 7:22–26
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Joshua with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, textual, translation, list, number, geographical, historical, and cross-reference notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Joshua PDF, printed pp. 428-429, translation and translator notes on 7:22–26
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Joshua
Richard D. Nelson
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, literary boundaries, composition, history and archaeology limits, geography, theology, and material interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: Nelson, 'Joshua,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 164-165, discussion of 7:22–26
Open source ↗peer reviewed research review
The Book of Joshua in Recent Research
Thomas B. Dozeman
Currents in Biblical Research 15.3, 2017
Supports: Modern research plurality across textual criticism, composition, history, archaeology, geography, violence, ideology, and reception.
Exact location: Dozeman, 'The Book of Joshua in Recent Research,' Currents in Biblical Research 15.3 (2017), printed pp. 270–288; research categories and bibliography applied cautiously to 7:22–26
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access ethical and literary study
A Theological Response to Biblical Violence
Erika Barnard and Esias E. Meyer
Scriptura 119.1, 2020
Supports: The conquest narrative's violent literary and ideological functions and the need for explicit modern ethical resistance.
Exact location: Barnard and Meyer, 'A Theological Response to Biblical Violence,' Scriptura 119.1 (2020), printed pp. 1–15, especially pp. 7–15 on Joshua 6–11, literary setting, social identity, hybridity, courage, fear, and ethical response; 7:22–26
Open source ↗peer reviewed article record and abstract
A Reading of Recovery for an Ethical Interpretation of Joshua Herem Passages
Ki-Min Bang
Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies 27.1, 2021
Supports: One modern recovery-reading alternative that distinguishes divine speech from Joshua's actions and explicitly rejects genocidal application.
Exact location: Bang, 'A Reading of Recovery for an Ethical Interpretation of Joshua Herem Passages,' KJOTS 27.1 (2021), official English abstract and article record for pp. 61–96; case-study scope 7:22–26
Open source ↗peer reviewed article record and abstract
The Making of the Sin of Achan (Joshua 7)
Joshua Berman
Biblical Interpretation 22.2, 2014
Supports: The unusual collective-blame problem, limits of easy corporate-personality explanations, and the rhetorical significance of the spies' report.
Exact location: Berman, 'The Making of the Sin of Achan (Joshua 7),' Biblical Interpretation 22.2 (2014), official abstract and record for pp. 115–131; applied to 7:22–26
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access textual study
The Battle against Ai and the Textual History of the Book of Joshua
Kristin De Troyer
Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies 48, 2015
Supports: Masoretic, Old Greek, Qumran, and revision evidence plus a focused case study showing why ancient textual differences require visible limits.
Exact location: De Troyer, 'The Battle against Ai and the Textual History of the Book of Joshua,' JSCS 48 (2015), printed pp. 39–53, especially pp. 39–43 on book-wide MT-OG differences and pp. 43–53 on Joshua 8; applied to 7:22–26
Open source ↗