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15 (The Jordan overflows all its banks during the harvest season.) [a] When the priests who were carrying the ark came to the edge of the Jordan River and set foot in 16 the water, the water stopped flowing from upstream. The water rose up like a dam as far away as the city of Adam near Zarethan. The water flowing down toward the Sea of the Plains (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. Then the people crossed from the east side ⌞of the Jordan River⌟ directly opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the Lord’s promise stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan River on dry ground.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:15 This sentence has been moved from verse 16 to express the complex Hebrew paragraph structure more clearly in English.

15 Now the Jordan(A) is at flood stage(B) all during harvest.(C) Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing.(D) It piled up in a heap(E) a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan,(F) while the water flowing down(G) to the Sea of the Arabah(H) (that is, the Dead Sea(I)) was completely cut off.(J) So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.(K) 17 The priests(L) who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground,(M) while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.(N)

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