Joshua 3
New International Reader's Version
Israel Goes Across the Jordan River
3 Early one morning Joshua and all the Israelites started out from Shittim. They went down to the Jordan River. They camped there before they went across it. 2 After three days the officers went all through the camp. 3 They gave orders to the people. They said, “Watch for the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. The priests, who are Levites, will be carrying it. When you see it, you must move out from where you are and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go. You have never gone this way before. But don’t go near the ark. Stay about 1,000 yards away from it.”
5 Joshua said to the people, “Set yourselves apart to the Lord. Tomorrow he’ll do amazing things among you.”
6 Joshua said to the priests, “Go and get the ark of the covenant. Walk on ahead of the people.” So they went and got it. Then they walked on ahead of them.
7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to honor you in the eyes of all the Israelites. Then they will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses. 8 Speak to the priests who carry the ark of the covenant. Tell them, ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan River, go into the water and stand there.’ ”
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here. Listen to what the Lord your God is saying. 10 You will soon know that the living God is among you. He will certainly drive out the people now living in the land. He’ll do it to make room for you. He’ll drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 The ark will go into the Jordan River ahead of you. It’s the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth. 12 Choose 12 men from the tribes of Israel. Choose one from each tribe. 13 The priests will carry the ark of the Lord. He’s the Lord of the whole earth. As soon as the priests step into the Jordan, it will stop flowing. The water that’s coming down the river will pile up in one place. That’s how you will know that the living God is among you.”
14 So the people took their tents down. They prepared to go across the Jordan River. The priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 The water of the Jordan was going over its banks. It always does that at the time the crops are being gathered. The priests came to the river. Their feet touched the water’s edge. 16 Right away the water coming down the river stopped flowing. It piled up far away at a town called Adam near Zarethan. The water flowing down to the Dead Sea was completely cut off. So the people went across the Jordan River opposite Jericho. 17 The priests carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. They stopped in the middle of the river and stood on dry ground. They stayed there until the whole nation of Israel had gone across on dry ground.
Joshua 3
World English Bible
3 Joshua got up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They camped there before they crossed over. 2 After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of Yahweh your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits[a] by measure—don’t come closer to it—that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.”
5 Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you.”
6 Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
7 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”
9 Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God.” 10 Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord[b] of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. 13 It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”
14 When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, 15 and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest), 16 the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho. 17 The priests who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.
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