The western delegation recalls the sin of Achan (see 7.1-26), which brought punishment upon all the people and the death not only of Achan but of his whole family. If one man’s sins had such terrible consequences, what would be the result of the sin of two and one-half tribes of the Lord’s people? Notice again the concept of things condemned to destruction because they were given to the Lord; this was what Achan disregarded.

In Hebrew Remember how … punished for that is in the form of a rhetorical question (see Revised Standard Version). Since the form of the question in Hebrew automatically implies a “yes” answer, Good News Translation is able to translate it as an affirmative statement. Remember how is the positive equivalent of “Do not ever forget.”

Most translations retain son of Zerah, but for many readers the retention of this phrase will lessen the impact of the narrative. The problem is that the author of the text may have known several persons by the name of Achan, while the readers of the translation know only one.

Refused to obey the command implies two events: (1) The Lord gives a command, and (2) Achan refuses to obey. In addition, things condemned to destruction also implies a command on behalf of the Lord, who told the people of Israel to destroy all the things that were devoted to him. On the basis of these observations, verse 20 may be translated as follows:

• “… Do not forget what happened to Achan! The LORD told us, ‘Destroy everything in the city of Jericho.’ But Achan did not obey the LORD’s command, and so the LORD punished all of us. Achan died because of what he did, and many other Israelites also died because of Achan’s sin.”

Or a causative verb may be introduced in the last sentence: “… The LORD caused Achan to die because of what he did, and the LORD also caused many other Israelites to die because Achan did not obey him.” A causal and noncausal combination is also possible: “… The LORD caused Achan to die because Achan did not obey him, and many other Israelites also died because of Achan.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .