What Does Joshua 22:20 Mean?
Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a breach in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the assembly of Israel? And that man did not breathe his last alone in his crookedness.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.THE KEY
The Hebrew word beneath “accursed thing” names what is set apart under an irrevocable ban, so taking it turns a private act into a breach reaching the whole congregation.
THE MEANING
When what is set apart is taken, the breach reaches beyond the one who takes it: wrath falls on the whole congregation. The actor is not alone in the consequence; the gathered community stands within its reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that taking what is set apart is a private matter whose consequences end with the taker.
THE ROOT
חֵרֶם
ḥērem
GROWS FROM
חרם
To ban or dedicate irrevocably, often devoting to destruction.
The Hebrew word beneath “accursed thing” is חֵרֶם (ḥērem, what is irrevocably devoted or placed under a ban). Its root binds dedication to prohibition: what is set apart no longer belongs to ordinary private use, so taking it violates a boundary with consequences beyond the taker.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāram: To ban or devote irrevocably, sometimes to destruction.
חָרַם
The verb gives the object its status: dedication removes it from ordinary possession.
heḥĕrîm: To place under a ban or devote to destruction.
הֶחֱרִים
This form shows the act of setting something apart, clarifying that the boundary is part of the object’s status.
מַעַל
maʿal
GROWS FROM
מעל
To act treacherously or break faith.
The Hebrew repeats מָעַל מַעַל (māʿal maʿal, act treacherously, a breach of faith), joining the act and the trespass in one root-pattern. The breach is a betrayal involving what is set apart, and its reach extends to the gathered people.
ALSO GROWS
māʿal: To act treacherously or deal unfaithfully.
מָעַל
This verbal form appears beside its cognate noun in the verse, holding the action and the breach together.
meʿilah: Sacrilege or misappropriation of what is sacred.
מְעִילָה
This related noun names a breach involving sacred property, illuminating the character of the taking.
THE PATTERN
A breach that begins in one member can enter the shared life of an entire people.
By the blessing of the straight the city is lifted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?If one limb aches, all the limbs ache with it, and if one is clothed in weight, all of them rejoice with it.THE THREAD
And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the stirrer of Israel, who broke trust in the devoted thing.The Hebrew uses the same חֵרֶם (ḥērem, what is devoted under a ban) and מָעַל (māʿal, act treacherously) roots. It also calls him Achar (עָכָר, ʿākhār, “troubler”), compressing into his name the communal consequence Joshua 22:20 describes.
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