3
1 Joshua
got up early
in the morning;
and they moved
from Shittim and
came to the
Jordan, he and
all the children
of Israel.
They camped there
before they
crossed over.
2 After
three days, the
officers went
through the middle
of the camp;
3 and
they commanded the
people, saying, “When
you see the ark
of the LORD
your God’s
covenant, and the
Levitical priests
bearing it, then
leave your place
and follow it.
4 Yet
there shall be
a space between
you and it
of about
two thousand cubits
by measure—don’t
come closer to
it—that you
may know the
way by which
you must go;
for you have
not passed this
way before.”
5 Joshua said
to the people, “Sanctify
yourselves; for
tomorrow the LORD
will do wonders
among you.”
6 Joshua spoke
to the priests,
saying, “Take up
the ark of the
covenant, and
cross over before
the people.” They
took up the ark
of the covenant,
and went before
the people.
7 The
LORD said to
Joshua, “Today I
will begin to
magnify you in
the sight of
all Israel, that
they may know
that as I
was with Moses,
so I will
be with you.
8 You
shall command the
priests who bear
the ark of the
covenant, saying, ‘When
you come to the
brink of the
waters of the
Jordan, you shall
stand still in
the Jordan.’ ”
9 Joshua
said to the
children of Israel,
“Come here, and
hear the words
of the LORD
your God.”
10 Joshua said,
“By this you
shall know that
the living God is
among you, and
that he will
without fail drive
the Canaanite, the
Hittite, the
Hivite, the
Perizzite, the
Girgashite, the Amorite,
and the Jebusite
out from before
you.
11 Behold,
the ark of the
covenant of
the Lord
of all the earth
passes over before
you into the
Jordan.
12 Now
therefore take
twelve men out
of the tribes
of Israel, for
every tribe a man.
13 It
shall be that
when the soles
of the feet
of the priests
who bear the ark
of GOD,
the Lord of
all the earth,
rest in the
waters of the
Jordan, that the
waters of the
Jordan will be
cut off. The
waters that come
down from above
shall stand in
one heap.”
14 When
the people moved
from their tents
to pass over
the Jordan, the
priests who bore
the ark of the
covenant being
before the people,
15 and
when those who
bore the ark had
come to the
Jordan, and the
feet of the
priests who bore
the ark had dipped
in the edge
of the water (for
the Jordan
overflows all its
banks all the
time of harvest),
16 the
waters which came
down from above
stood, and rose
up in one
heap a great
way off, at Adam,
the city that
is beside Zarethan;
and those that
went down toward
the sea of
the Arabah, even
the Salt Sea,
were wholly cut
off. Then the
people passed over
near Jericho.
17 The
priests who bore
the ark of the
LORD’s covenant
stood firm on
dry ground in
the middle of
the Jordan; and
all Israel crossed
over on dry
ground, until all
the nation had
passed completely
over the Jordan.