Bible Strands
Joshua 7:26
And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Israel completes the execution of Achan and his household at Joshua’s command, then piles stones over the site before the Lord withdraws His burning anger. Joshua 7:25-26 establishes this moment immediately after the judgment of Achan’s sin.
The words — The text uses גַּל־ אֲבָנִים גָּדוֹל (gal-’ăḇānîm gāḏôl), literally “a great heap of stones,” to describe the covering placed over Achan. This physical marker remains עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה (‘ad hayyôm hazzeh), “until this day,” as a lasting memorial.
The thread — The location later functions symbolically across the prophets, appearing in Isaiah 65:10 as a future pasture and in Hosea 2:15 as a transformed gateway of hope. Deuteronomy 13:17 establishes the principle that removing devoted things causes the Lord to turn from His fierce anger, which Joshua 7:26 directly fulfills.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment requires complete removal of sin before grace resumes. It asks the reader to acknowledge that covenant obedience, not partial compliance, restores the relationship between God and His people.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 65:10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for My people who seek Me.
- Hosea 2:15 There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 13:17 Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,
- Joshua 7:24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.
- Joshua 8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
- 2 Samuel 18:17 They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.
- Lamentations 3:53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
- Joshua 10:27 At sunset Joshua ordered that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave in which they had hidden. Then large stones were placed against the mouth of the cave, and the stones are there to this day.
- 2 Samuel 21:14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.
- Isaiah 40:2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”