¹⁸ And you, ^(A)by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, ^(B)and trouble it.

²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

¹¹ And have ^(A)no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather ^[a]expose them.

¹¹ Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. ^(A)For they have even taken some of the ^[a]accursed things, and have both stolen and ^(B)deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. ^12 (C)Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because ^(D)they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.

Defeat at Ai

7 But the children of Israel ^[a]committed a ^(A)trespass regarding the ^(B)accursed^[b] things, for ^(C)Achan the son of Carmi, the son of ^[c]Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.

²⁵ And Joshua said, ^(A)“Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” ^(B)So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

¹⁷ Therefore

^27 (A)Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: ^(B)to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, ^(C)and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Behave Like a Christian

^9 (A)Let love be without hypocrisy. ^(B)Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.