约书亚记 3
Chinese New Version (Traditional)
約書亞率領以色列人過約旦河
3 約書亞清早起來，和全體以色列人從什亭出發，來到約旦河，在那裡住宿，等候過河。 2 過了三天，官長走遍營中， 3 吩咐人民說：“你們看見耶和華你們的 神的約櫃，又看見抬約櫃的利未支派的祭司的時候，就要從你們所住的地方出發，跟在約櫃後面走。 4 只是你們和約櫃之間應有一段距離，相隔約一公里，不可走近約櫃，好使你們知道你們應走的路，因為這條路你們以前沒有走過。”
5 約書亞對人民說：“你們要自潔，因為明天耶和華要在你們中間行奇事。” 6 約書亞又吩咐祭司說：“你們要抬起約櫃，在人民前面過河去。”於是他們抬起約櫃，走在人民的前面。 7 耶和華對約書亞說：“今天起，我要使你在以色列眾人眼中成為尊大，這樣他們就知道我怎樣與摩西同在，也必照樣與你同在。 8 你要吩咐抬著約櫃的祭司說：‘你們到了約旦河水邊的時候，要站在約旦河中。’” 9 約書亞對以色列人說：“你們走近這裡來，聆聽耶和華你們的 神的話。 10-11 約書亞說：“看哪，全地之主的約櫃（“全地之主的約櫃”或譯：“約櫃，全地之主”）必在你們前面過約旦河，你們因此就知道永活的 神是在你們中間，他必把迦南人、赫人、希未人、比利洗人、革迦撒人、亞摩利人和耶布斯人，從你們面前驅逐出去。 12 現在你們要從以色列眾支派中選十二個人，每支派一人。 13 抬全地之主耶和華約櫃的祭司的腳掌一踏進約旦河水裡，約旦河的水必被截斷，那從上游流下來的水必立起成壘。”
14 人民離開帳棚出發，要過約旦河的時候，抬約櫃的祭司在人民的前面。 15 抬約櫃的祭司來到約旦河，他們的腳碰到水邊的時候（原來約旦河水在收割的日子，常是漲過兩岸的）， 16 水就停住了，那從上游流下來的水立起成壘，在很遠的地方，就是在撒拉但旁邊的亞當城那裡停住；那往下流入亞拉巴海，就是鹽海的水完全被截斷；於是人民就在耶利哥的對面過了河。 17 抬耶和華約櫃的祭司在約旦河中間的乾地上站住，等以色列眾人都在乾地上走過去，直到全國的人都完全走過了約旦河為止。
Joshua 3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 3
Instructions before the Crossing. 1 Joshua and all of the Israelites rose early the next morning and set out for Shittim, arriving at the Jordan where they camped before they crossed over it. 2 Three days later the leaders of the people passed through the camp 3 giving orders to the people saying, “When you see the priests and Levites carrying the Ark of the Lord, your God, set out from where you are and follow after it. 4 Maintain a distance of about two thousand cubits[a] between it and yourselves; do not approach it too closely. Thus you will know the way you are to go, for you have never passed this way before.” 5 Joshua said to the priests, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will perform wondrous deeds in your midst.”[b] 6 Joshua also said to the priests, “Pick up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on in front of the people.” So they picked up the Ark of the Covenant and went on ahead of the people.
7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all of Israel, so that they may know that I will treat you the same way that I treated Moses. 8 Say to the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant: ‘Approach the edge of the water and stand in the Jordan.’ ” 9 Joshua instructed the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord, your God.” 10 Joshua continued, “This is how you will know that there is a living God among you who will drive out the Canaanites,[c] the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites from before you. 11 Behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth will pass before you into the Jordan. 12 Choose twelve men from out of the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. 13 [d]As soon as the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, set their feet down in the water, the waters of the Jordan will stop flowing downstream and will mount up in a heap.”
14 Crossing over the Jordan. When the people broke camp to cross over the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went on ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan was at its flood stage during the entire harvest season, but as soon as the priests carrying the Ark stepped into the Jordan, 16 the waters from upstream stopped flowing. They stood up in a mound quite a distance away, at a town called Adam, near Zarethan. The waters that were flowing downstream to the Arabah (the Salt Sea) disappeared entirely, so the people were able to cross over the Jordan. 17 The priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord were standing on dry ground right in the middle of the Jordan. All of the Israelites passed over on dry ground until the entire people had crossed over the Jordan.
Footnotes
- Joshua 3:4 Cubits: a measure of length in Hebrew; a cubit was about 50 cm. Two thousand cubits or a thousand yards was the distance of a Sabbath walk, that is, of the walk permitted to Hebrews on the Sabbath; this limitation symbolized the respect due to the divine transcendence.
- Joshua 3:5 See Ex 19:10, 15. The consecration or purification consisted in washing one’s clothes and being sexually continent.
- Joshua 3:10 A list of the peoples living in the land of Canaan (present-day Palestine and Lebanon): Canaanites: the oldest inhabitants of the country; Hittites: a people from Anatolia who had settled in Syria and were of non-Semitic origin; Hivites: a non-Semitic people on whom we have no information; Perizzites: these, as the etymology of their name indicates, are inhabitants of open villages; Girgashites: people on whom we have no information; Amorites: in around the 20th century B.C. they were living in the area of the middle Euphrates, where they found the kingdom of Mari and the first Babylonian dynasty; in around the 15th century B.C., they would settle in Syria and then push southward; Jebusites: the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
- Joshua 3:13 Crossing the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land through God’s parting of the water correlates to the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex 14) to leave Egypt. God was with them then and is with them now. The evidence of the Lord’s mighty power restored their confidence and enhanced their reputation among their enemies.
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
