Israel has sinned may be translated “The people of Israel have sinned.” Achan’s disobedience involved all Israel, and as a result Israel suffered defeat.

The Lord’s accusation, then, is that the Israelites have broken the agreement and have taken some of the things condemned to destruction; they stole, … lied, and hid those things among their own belongings. In this context the agreement (Revised Standard Version “covenant”) refers specifically to the Lord’s command about the attack on Jericho (6.17-18); it does not refer to the basic covenant at Mount Sinai.

In order to indicate specifically that the agreement refers to the Lord’s command not to take anything from the city of Jericho, considerable restructuring may be necessary. For example, They have broken … condemned to destruction may be translated, “I commanded them to destroy everything in the city of Jericho. This was my agreement with them. But they kept back for themselves some of the things from the city.” Moreover, if it is felt that the agreement (the agreement with me) and the command (I ordered them to keep) are synonymous, one may even render “I commanded them to destroy everything in the city. But they disobeyed my command and kept back some of the things for themselves.”

The three events described in the last sentence of this verse (stole … lied … put them with) may need to be arranged in chronological sequence: “They stole them, put them with their own things, and then lied about what they had done.”

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 .