Joshua 3

Wycliffe Bible

3 Therefore Joshua rose by night, and moved thence the tents; and they went out of Shittim, and came to (the) Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel (he and all the Israelites), and dwelled there three days.

² And when those days were passed, criers/beadles went through the midst of the tents,

³ and began to cry, When ye see the ark of [the] bond of peace of your Lord God, and the priests of the generation of Levi bearing it, also then rise ye, and follow the before-goers; (and began to cry, When ye see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, and the levitical priests carrying it, then ye shall rise up, and follow them;)

⁴ and a space of two thousand cubits be betwixt you and the ark, (so) that ye may see (it from) [a]far, and (so that ye can) know by which way ye shall enter, for ye have not gone before by it (for ye have not gone this way before); and be ye ware, that ye nigh not to the ark.

⁵ And Joshua said to the people, Be ye hallowed, for tomorrow the Lord shall make marvels among you.

⁶ And Joshua said to the priests, Take ye the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, and go ye before the people. The which fulfilled the behests of Joshua, and they took the ark, and went before the people. (And Joshua said to the priests, Take ye the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and go ye before the people. And they obeyed Joshua’s commands, and they took the Ark, and went before the people.)

⁷ And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I shall begin to enhance thee before all Israel (Today I shall begin to magnify thee before all Israel), (so) that they know, that as I was with Moses, so I am also with thee.

⁸ Forsooth command thou to the priests, that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace, and say thou to them, When ye have entered into a part of the water of (the) Jordan, stand ye therein. (And command thou to the priests, who carry the Ark of the Covenant, and say thou to them, When ye have entered into a part of the water of the Jordan River, stand ye there.)

⁹ And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Nigh ye hither, and hear ye the word of your Lord God. (And Joshua said to the Israelites, Come ye here, and hear ye the word of the Lord your God.)

¹⁰ And again he said, In this ye shall know that the Lord God living is in the midst of you (And he said, By this ye shall know that the living God is in the midst of you); and he shall destroy in your sight (the) Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, and Perizzites, and Girgashites, and Jebusites, and Amorites.

¹¹ Lo! the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord of all earth shall go before you through Jordan. (Lo! the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you across the Jordan River.)

¹² Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve lineages of Israel, by each lineage one man. (Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve tribes of Israel, one man out of each tribe.)

¹³ And when the priests, that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord God of all earth (who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord God of all the earth), have set the steps of their feet in the waters of (the) Jordan, the waters that be lower shall run down, and shall fail; soothly the waters that come from above shall stand together in one gathering, or (in) a certain place.

¹⁴ Therefore the people went out of their tabernacles for to pass over (the) Jordan; and the priests that bare the ark of [the] bond of peace went before the people. (And so the people went out of their tents to cross over the Jordan River; and the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant went before the people.)

¹⁵ And when the priests entered into (the) Jordan, and their feet were dipped in the part of [the] water; forsooth (the) Jordan had filled the brinks of his trough in the time of ripe corn (for the Jordan River was filled to the brim of its trough at that time of harvest);

¹⁶ the waters (that) went down (from above halted), and stood in one place, and waxed great at the likeness of an hill, and appeared far from the city that was called Adam, till to the place of Zaretan; soothly the waters that were lower went down into the sea of (the) wilderness, which is now called the dead sea, till the waters failed utterly. Forsooth the people went through (the) Jordan; (the waters, that went down from above, stood in one place, and grew great like a hill, going back as far away as the city called Adam, which is close to the city of Zaretan; and the waters that were lower, or below, went down into the Sea of the Wilderness, which is now called the Dead Sea, until there was no water. And then the people crossed over opposite Jericho;)

¹⁷ and the priests, that bare the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, stood girded on the dry earth in the midst of (the) Jordan, and all the people passed [over] through the dry trough. (and the priests, who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, stood firmly on the dry earth in the midst of the Jordan River, until all the people had crossed over through the dry trough.)