Ai was a city not far from Jericho. Three thousand Israelites went to take it. But some were killed and the rest got frightened and ran away. Joshua felt so badly that he went and told God all about it. God said that the Israelites had been beaten because one of them had kept for his own some of the silver and gold taken from Jericho. God pointed out that Achan was the man who had stolen these things and that he had hidden them in his tent. When they looked in the tent they found them buried in the ground. Achan and all his family and all that he had were stoned and burned and a great heap of stones raised over them as a warning.