The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Joshua 03
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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh will do
wonders among you.”
6 Joshua spoke to the priests, saying,
“Take up the ark ofthe covenant, and cross
over before the people.” They took up the
ark of the covenant, and went before the
people.
7 Yahweh 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,
“Comehere, andhear the words ofYahweh
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
Yahweh, 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 ofthe 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 Yahweh’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.