---
title: "Joshua 7 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/joshua/7/
description: "For the sins of Achan, the Israelites are defeated at Hai. The offender is found… Joshua 7 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Joshua 7

Joshua 7 is chapter 7 of 24 in the Book of Joshua. Here are all 26 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> For the sins of Achan, the Israelites are defeated at Hai. The offender is found out; and stoned to death, and God's wrath is turned from them.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Joshua 7 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. But the sons of Israel transgressed the commandment, and they usurped what was anathema. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took something from what was anathema. And the Lord became angry against the sons of Israel.
2. And when Joshua sent men from Jericho against Ai, which is beside Bethaven, toward the eastern region of the town of Bethel, he said to them, “Go up and explore the land.” And they fulfilled his instruction, and they explored Ai.
3. And returning, they said to him: “Let not the entire people go up. Instead, let two or three thousand men go out and destroy the city. Why should all the people be troubled without cause against enemies that are so very few?”
4. Therefore, they went up with three thousand fighters. And they promptly turned their backs,
5. and were struck down by the men of the city of Ai. And thirty-six men of them fell. And the adversaries pursued them from the gate, even as far as Shebarim. And they felled them as they were fleeing downward. And the heart of the people was struck with fear, and it melted like water.
6. And truly, Joshua tore his garments, and he fell prone on the ground before the ark of the Lord, even until evening, both he and all the elders of Israel. And they cast dust upon their heads.
7. And Joshua said: “Alas, O Lord God! Why would you want to lead this people over the river Jordan, so that you might deliver us into the hand of the Amorite and destroy us? I wish that we had remained beyond the Jordan, as when we began.
8. My Lord God, what shall I say, seeing Israel turning their backs to their enemies?
9. The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and coming together as one, they will surround us, and they will wipe our name from the earth. And what will you do concerning your great name?”
10. And the Lord said to Joshua: “Rise up. Why are you lying flat on the ground?
11. Israel has sinned and transgressed my covenant. And they have taken from what is anathema. And they have stolen and lied, and they have hidden it among their goods.
12. Israel is not able to stand before his enemies, and he will flee from them. For he has been defiled by what is anathema. I will no longer be with you, until you destroy him who is guilty of this wickedness.
13. Rise up. Sanctify the people. And you shall say to them: ‘Be sanctified tomorrow. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: That which is anathema is in your midst, O Israel! You are not able to stand before your enemies, until he who has been contaminated by this wickedness is taken away from you.’
14. And you shall draw near in the morning, each one by your tribes. And whichever tribe will be found by lot shall come forward by its families, and the families by houses, and the house by the men.
15. And whoever he may be that will be found guilty of this deed, he shall be burnt with fire with all his substance. For he transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and he committed a wicked act in Israel.”
16. And so Joshua, rising in the morning, brought forth Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was found.
17. And when its families had been presented, the family of Zerah was found. Likewise, bringing that one forward by the houses, he discovered Zabdi.
18. And dividing his house by each man, he found Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah.
19. And Joshua said to Achan: “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and confess, and reveal to me what you have done. You may not conceal it.”
20. And Achan responded to Joshua, and he said to him: “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and I have done one thing and another.
21. For I saw among the spoils a very fine scarlet cloak, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a gold bar of fifty shekels. And coveting these, I took and hid them in the ground near the middle of my tent, and I covered the silver with the soil that I had dug.”
22. Therefore, Joshua sent ministers, who, running to his tent, discovered everything hidden in the same place, together with the silver.
23. And taking these from the tent, they brought them to Joshua, and to all the sons of Israel, and they cast them down before the Lord.
24. And so Joshua took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the cloak, and the gold bar, also his sons and daughters, the oxen and donkeys and sheep, and even the tent and all his goods, (and all of Israel went with him,) and he brought these to the valley of Achor.
25. There, Joshua said: “Because you have troubled us, the Lord troubles you, on this day.” And all of Israel stoned him. And all the things that were his were consumed by fire.
26. And they gathered upon him a great pile of stones, which remains even to the present day. And the fury of the Lord was averted from them. And the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor, even to this day.

## Joshua 7 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Filii autem Israël prævaricati sunt mandatum, et usurpaverunt de anathemate. Nam Achan filius Charmi filii Zabdi filii Zare de tribu Juda tulit aliquid de anathemate: iratusque est Dominus contra filios Israël.
2. Cumque mitteret Josue de Jericho viros contra Hai, quæ est juxta Bethaven, ad orientalem plagam oppidi Bethel, dixit eis: Ascendite, et explorate terram. Qui præcepta complentes exploraverunt Hai.
3. Et reversi dixerunt ei: Non ascendat omnis populus, sed duo vel tria millia virorum pergant, et deleant civitatem: quare omnis populus frustra vexabitur contra hostes paucissimos?
4. Ascenderunt ergo tria millia pugnatorum. Qui statim terga vertentes,
5. percussi sunt a viris urbis Hai, et corruerunt ex eis triginta sex homines: persecutique sunt eos adversarii de porta usque ad Sabarim, et ceciderunt per prona fugientes: pertimuitque cor populi, et instar aquæ liquefactum est.
6. Josue vero scidit vestimenta sua, et pronus cecidit in terram coram arca Domini usque ad vesperam, tam ipse quam omnes senes Israël: miseruntque pulverem super capita sua,
7. et dixit Josue: Heu Domine Deus, quid voluisti traducere populum istum Jordanem fluvium, ut traderes nos in manus Amorrhæi, et perderes? utinam ut cœpimus, mansissemus trans Jordanem.
8. Mi Domine Deus, quid dicam, videns Israëlem hostibus suis terga vertentem?
9. Audient Chananæi, et omnes habitatores terræ, et pariter conglobati circumdabunt nos, atque delebunt nomen nostrum de terra: et quid facies magno nomini tuo?
10. Dixitque Dominus ad Josue: Surge: cur jaces pronus in terra?
11. Peccavit Israël, et prævaricatus est pactum meum: tuleruntque de anathemate, et furati sunt atque mentiti, et absconderunt inter vasa sua.
12. Nec poterit Israël stare ante hostes suos, eosque fugiet: quia pollutus est anathemate. Non ero ultra vobiscum, donec conteratis eum qui hujus sceleris reus est.
13. Surge, sanctifica populum, et dic eis: Sanctificamini in crastinum: hæc enim dicit Dominus Deus Israël: Anathema in medio tui est, Israël: non poteris stare coram hostibus tuis, donec deleatur ex te qui hoc contaminatus est scelere.
14. Accedetisque mane singuli per tribus vestras: et quamcumque tribum sors invenerit, accedet per cognationes suas, et cognatio per domos, domusque per viros.
15. Et quicumque ille in hoc facinore fuerit deprehensus, comburetur igni cum omni substantia sua: quoniam prævaricatus est pactum Domini, et fecit nefas in Israël.
16. Surgens itaque Josue mane, applicuit Israël per tribus suas, et inventa est tribus Juda.
17. Quæ cum juxta familias suas esset oblata, inventa est familia Zare. Illam quoque per domos offerens, reperit Zabdi:
18. cujus domum in singulos dividens viros, invenit Achan filium Charmi filii Zabdi filii Zare de tribu Juda.
19. Et ait Josue ad Achan: Fili mi, da gloriam Domino Deo Israël, et confitere, atque indica mihi quid feceris, ne abscondas.
20. Responditque Achan Josue, et dixit ei: Vere ego peccavi Domino Deo Israël, et sic et sic feci.
21. Vidi enim inter spolia pallium coccineum valde bonum, et ducentos siclos argenti, regulamque auream quinquaginta siclorum: et concupiscens abstuli, et abscondi in terra contra medium tabernaculi mei, argentumque fossa humo operui.
22. Misit ergo Josue ministros: qui currentes ad tabernaculum illius, repererunt cuncta abscondita in eodem loco, et argentum simul.
23. Auferentesque de tentorio, tulerunt ea ad Josue, et ad omnes filios Israël, projeceruntque ante Dominum.
24. Tollens itaque Josue Achan filium Zare, argentumque et pallium, et auream regulam, filios quoque et filias ejus, boves et asinos et oves, ipsumque tabernaculum, et cunctam supellectilem (et omnis Israël cum eo), duxerunt eos ad vallem Achor:
25. ubi dixit Josue: Quia turbasti nos, exturbet te Dominus in die hac. Lapidavitque eum omnis Israël: et cuncta quæ illius erant, igne consumpta sunt.
26. Congregaveruntque super eum acervum magnum lapidum, qui permanet usque in præsentem diem. Et aversus est furor Domini ab eis. Vocatumque est nomen loci illius, vallis Achor, usque hodie.

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 24: “His sons” … Probably conscious to, or accomplices of, the crime of their father.
- Verse 26: “Achor” … That is, trouble.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).