So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did:
Parallel translations
- WEB Achan answered Joshua, and said, “I have truly sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done.
- KJV And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
- BSB “It is true,” Achan replied, “I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did:
- NKJV And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done:
- NLT Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Achan openly confesses that he has sinned against Yahweh and prepares to detail his offense. He admits guilt without excuse.
Overview
Achan's confession is direct: he acknowledges that his crime is ultimately against God, not merely against Israel. True confession names sin honestly and traces it to its offense against the Lord, as David later does in Psalm 51. Yet confession here comes too late to avert temporal judgment, reminding us that the time to forsake sin is before it bears its bitter fruit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 38:18For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin.
- Gen 42:21They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.”
- 1 Sam 15:30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.”
- Matt 27:4saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.”
- Job 7:20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?
- Num 22:34Balaam said to Yahweh’s angel, “I have sinned; for I didn’t know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again.”
- Job 33:27He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me.
- Exod 10:16Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God, and against you.
- 1 Sam 15:24Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 7:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.