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.
Josué 3
Dios Habla Hoy
Los israelitas cruzan el Jordán
3 Al día siguiente, muy temprano, Josué y todos los israelitas salieron de Sitim y llegaron al río Jordán; pero antes de cruzarlo acamparon allí. 2 Pasados tres días, los jefes recorrieron el campamento 3 y dieron esta orden a los israelitas: «En cuanto vean ustedes que el arca del Señor pasa, llevada por los sacerdotes levitas, salgan de donde estén y síganla. 4 Así sabrán por dónde tienen que ir, porque ninguno de ustedes ha pasado antes por ese camino. Pero no se acerquen al arca, sino quédense siempre detrás de ella, como a un kilómetro de distancia.»
5 Y Josué les dijo: «Purifíquense, porque mañana verán al Señor hacer milagros.» 6 A los sacerdotes les dijo: «Tomen el arca de la alianza y crucen el río delante de la gente.»
Los sacerdotes tomaron el arca de la alianza y pasaron delante de la gente. 7 Entonces el Señor le dijo a Josué: «A partir de hoy te haré cada vez más importante a los ojos de los israelitas. Así ellos verán que yo estoy contigo como estuve con Moisés. 8 Tú, por tu parte, ordena a los sacerdotes que llevan el arca de la alianza que, cuando lleguen a la orilla del Jordán, se paren dentro del río.»
9 Entonces Josué les dijo a los israelitas: «Vengan y escuchen lo que dice el Señor su Dios. 10 Ésta será la prueba de que el Dios viviente está en medio de ustedes, y de que al paso de ustedes él irá barriendo a los cananeos, los hititas, los heveos, los ferezeos, los gergeseos, los amorreos y los jebuseos. 11 Miren, el arca de la alianza del Señor de toda la tierra va a cruzar el Jordán delante de ustedes. 12 Por eso, escojan ahora doce hombres, uno de cada una de las doce tribus de Israel. 13 Cuando los sacerdotes que llevan el arca del Señor de toda la tierra metan los pies en el agua, el río se dividirá en dos partes, y el agua que viene de arriba dejará de correr y se detendrá como formando un embalse.»
14-16 Los israelitas salieron de sus tiendas de campaña para cruzar el río, y delante de ellos iban los sacerdotes que llevaban el arca de la alianza. Pero en cuanto los sacerdotes entraron en el río y sus pies se mojaron con el agua de la orilla (durante el tiempo de la cosecha el Jordán se desborda) el agua que venía de arriba dejó de correr y se detuvo como formando un embalse, bastante lejos, en Adam, la ciudad que está junto a la fortaleza de Saretán. Y el agua que bajaba hacia el Mar Muerto siguió corriendo hasta que se terminó. Así se dividió el agua del río, y los israelitas lo cruzaron frente a la ciudad de Jericó. 17 Todo el pueblo cruzó en seco el Jordán, mientras los sacerdotes que llevaban el arca de la alianza del Señor permanecían en medio del Jordán, firmes y en terreno seco.
Joshua 3
New King James Version
Israel Crosses the Jordan
3 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out (A)from [a]Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, (B)after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, (C)“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, (D)and the priests, the Levites, [b]bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 (E)Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”
5 And Joshua said to the people, (F)“Sanctify[c] yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, (G)“Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”
So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
7 And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to (H)exalt[d] you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, (I)as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You shall command (J)the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, (K)you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ”
9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” 10 And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that (L)the living God is among you, and that He will without fail (M)drive out from before you the (N)Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of (O)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore, (P)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13 And it shall come to pass, (Q)as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, (R)the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they (S)shall stand as a heap.”
14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the (T)ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and (U)the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the (V)Jordan overflows all its banks (W)during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away [e]at Adam, the city that is beside (X)Zaretan. So the waters that went down (Y)into the Sea of the Arabah, (Z)the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; (AA)and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.
Footnotes
- Joshua 3:1 Heb. Shittim
- Joshua 3:3 carrying
- Joshua 3:5 Consecrate
- Joshua 3:7 make you great
- Joshua 3:16 Qr., many mss. and vss. from Adam
Dios habla hoy ®, © Sociedades Bíblicas Unidas, 1966, 1970, 1979, 1983, 1996.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
