^53 (A)But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there will be ^(B)no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. ^(C)So the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.”

²² But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, ^(A)God of the spirits of all flesh, ^(B)when one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and ^(A)make atonement for them, for ^(B)wrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague has begun!”

⁵ So you shall attend to the ^(A)obligations of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar, ^(B)so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel.

Israel Is Defeated at Ai

7 ^(A)But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.

¹⁸ that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, ^(A)He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow.

²⁰ Did not ^(A)Achan the son of Zerah act unfaithfully in the things under the ban, and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’”

The Census Taken

24 ^(A)Now ^(B)again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “^(C)Go, number Israel and Judah.”