Joshua 3
3
Preparations for Crossing the Jordan. 1Early the next morning, Joshua and all the Israelites moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, where they stayed before crossing over. 2#Jos 2:1. Three days later the officers went through the camp 3#Nm 10:33. and issued these commands to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord, your God, which the levitical priests will carry, you must break camp and follow it, 4that you may know the way to take, for you have not gone over this road before. But let there be a space of two thousand cubits between you and the ark: do not come nearer to it.” 5Joshua also said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will perform wonders among you.” 6And he told the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross ahead of the people”; so they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
7#Jos 1:5; Dt 31:23. Then the Lord said to Joshua: Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.#Jos 1:5; 4:14. 8Now command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, “When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, there take your stand.”
9So Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord, your God.” 10He continued: “By this you will know that there is a living God in your midst: he will certainly dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.#Ex 33:2; Dt 7:1. 11The ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth will cross the Jordan before you. 12Now choose twelve men,#Jos 4:2, 4. one from each of the tribes of Israel. 13When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, touch the waters of the Jordan, it will cease to flow; the water flowing down from upstream will halt in a single heap.”#Heap: Heb. nēd, the same word found in Ex 15:8; the narrative echoes the ancient Song of Miriam (Ex 15:1–18), which celebrates the crossing of the Red Sea. Thus the language provides another parallel between Joshua and Moses, conquest and exodus.
The Crossing Begun. 14The people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them. 15When those bearing the ark came to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were immersed in the waters of the Jordan—which overflows all its banks during the entire season of the harvest—#Season of the harvest: toward the end of March and the beginning of April, when the barley and other crops that grew during the rainy season of winter were reaped. The crossing took place “on the tenth day of the first month” of the Hebrew year, which began with the first new moon after the spring equinox; cf. 4:19. At this time of the year the Jordan would be swollen as a result of the winter rains and the melting snow of Mount Hermon. 16the waters flowing from upstream halted, standing up in a single heap#Ps 114:3. for a very great distance indeed, from Adam, a city in the direction of Zarethan; those flowing downstream toward the Salt Sea of the Arabah disappeared entirely.#Some scholars have suggested that this account may reflect an annual ritual reenactment of the event near the sanctuary of Gilgal. Thus the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the Jordan riverbed#Jos 4:7, 22. while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until the whole nation had completed the crossing of the Jordan.
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Joshua 3
3
Crossing the Jordan
1Joshua started early the next morning and left the Acacia Grove#3:1 Or left Shittim with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before crossing. 2After three days the officers went through the camp#Jos 1:11 3and commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests,#Dt 17:9,18; 18:1; 31:9; Jos 8:33; 2Ch 23:18; Jr 33:18,21 you are to break camp and follow it. 4But keep a distance of about a thousand yards#3:4 Lit 2,000 cubits between yourselves and the ark. Don’t go near it, so that you can see the way to go, for you haven’t traveled this way before.”
5Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves,#Ex 19:10; Nm 11:18; Jos 7:13; 1Sm 16:5; 1Ch 15:12; 2Ch 29:5; 30:3,17; 35:6 because the Lord will do wonders#Ps 72:18; 86:10; 98:1; 106:22; 119:18; Mc 7:15 among you tomorrow.” 6Then he said to the priests, “Carry the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.
7The Lord spoke to Joshua: “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel,#Jos 4:14 so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses.#Dt 31:23; Jos 1:5; Jdg 6:16; 1Kg 11:38; Is 43:2; Jr 1:8; 30:11; 46:28 8Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant: When you reach the edge of the water,#3:8 Lit waters of the Jordan stand in the Jordan.”
9Then Joshua told the Israelites, “Come closer and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” 10He said, “You will know that the living God is among you#Dt 5:26; Jr 10:10; Hs 1:10; 2Co 3:3 and that he will certainly dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hethites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites#Ex 33:2; Dt 7:1 11when the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth#Ps 97:5; Mc 4:13; Zch 6:5 goes ahead of you into the Jordan. 12Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.#Jos 4:2 13When the feet#3:13 Lit soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, come to rest in the Jordan’s water, its water will be cut off. The water flowing downstream will stand up in a mass.”#Ex 15:8
14When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant#Ac 7:44–45 ahead of the people. 15Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season.#1Ch 12:15; Jr 12:5; 49:19 But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water at its edge 16and the water flowing downstream stood still, rising up in a mass that extended as far as#3:16 Alt Hb tradition reads mass at Adam, a city next to Zarethan. The water flowing downstream into the Sea of the Arabah#Dt 1:1 — the Dead Sea — was completely cut off, and the people crossed opposite Jericho. 17The priests carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,#Ex 14:29 while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.
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