Joshua 7:12

12 "That is why the men of Israel can't stand up against their enemies. They turn their backs and run. It is because I have decided to let them be destroyed. You must destroy the things you took that had been set apart to me. If you do not, I will not be with you anymore.

Joshua 7:12 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 7:12

Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their
enemies
Being forsaken of God for the sin committed among them:

[but] turned [their] backs before their enemies:
had not courage to face them, but fled as soon as they appeared:

because they were accursed;
of God for the accursed thing that had been taken, as was threatened would be their case, should they take any of it; ( Joshua 6:18 ) ;

neither will I be with you any more, until ye take away the accursed
thing from among you;
that is, until they had put to death the person who had taken of the accursed thing, and made himself thereby accursed, and even all the camp of Israel; till this was done, the Lord would not be with them to protect and defend them, and give them success against their enemies.

Joshua 7:12 In-Context

10 The LORD said to Joshua, "Get up! What are you doing down there on your face?

11 "Israel has sinned. I made a covenant with them. I commanded them to keep it. But they have broken it. They have taken some of the things that had been set apart to me in a special way to be destroyed. They have stolen. They have lied. They have taken the things they stole and have put them with their own things.

12 "That is why the men of Israel can't stand up against their enemies. They turn their backs and run. It is because I have decided to let them be destroyed. You must destroy the things you took that had been set apart to me. If you do not, I will not be with you anymore.

13 "Go. Set the people apart. Tell them, 'Make yourselves pure. Get ready for tomorrow. Here is what the Lord, the God of Israel, wants you to do. He says, "People of Israel, you have kept some of the things that had been set apart to me in a special way to be destroyed. You can't stand up against your enemies until you get rid of those things."

14 " 'In the morning, come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe the LORD chooses will come forward group by group. The group the LORD chooses will come forward family by family. And the men in the family the LORD chooses will come forward one by one.