Joshua 3
3
The Israelites Cross the Jordan
1Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia Grove#3:1 Hebrew Shittim. and arrived at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing. 2Three days later the Israelite officers went through the camp, 3giving these instructions to the people: “When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them. 4Since you have never traveled this way before, they will guide you. Stay about half a mile#3:4 Hebrew about 2,000 cubits [920 meters]. behind them, keeping a clear distance between you and the Ark. Make sure you don’t come any closer.”
5Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.”
6In the morning Joshua said to the priests, “Lift up the Ark of the Covenant and lead the people across the river.” And so they started out and went ahead of the people.
7The Lord told Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses. 8Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’”
9So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and listen to what the Lord your God says. 10Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you. 11Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River! 12Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”
14So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. 15It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, 16the water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea#3:16 Hebrew the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea. until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.
17Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.
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Joshua 3: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Joshua 3
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. 2After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp; 3and 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. 4Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits#3:4 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres, so 2,000 cubits is about 920 metres. 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 amongst 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. 8You 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.” 10Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is amongst 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. 11Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord#3:11 The word translated “Lord” (mixed case) is “Adonai.” of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan. 12Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. 13It 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, 15and 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), 16the 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 towards the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho. 17The 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.
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