Joshua 3
EasyEnglish Bible
The people cross the Jordan
3 Early the next morning, Joshua and all the Israelites left Shittim. They put up their tents beside the Jordan River. They waited to cross the river.
2 Three days later, the Israelite leaders went to every tent. 3 They commanded the people, ‘The Levite priests will carry the Covenant Box of the Lord your God. When you see them, you must leave here and you must follow them. 4 They will show you the way to go because you have never been here before. But do not go too near to the Covenant Box. Stay about 1,000 metres behind it.’
5 Joshua said to the people, ‘Make yourselves ready to serve the Lord as his holy people. Tomorrow, the Lord will do great miracles among you.’
6 He said to the priests, ‘Pick up the Covenant Box, and carry it in front of the people.’ So they picked it up, and they went on in front of the people.
7 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make all the Israelite people respect you. They will know that I am with you, in the same way that I was with Moses. 8 The priests that are carrying the Covenant Box must go to the shore of the Jordan River. Tell them to go into the water and to stand there.’
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, ‘Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 The God who lives for ever is with you. He will certainly chase the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites out from this land.[a] Then you will have their land. The Lord will show you that he will certainly do this. 11 Look now! The Covenant Box of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan River in front of you. 12 Now choose 12 men, one from each tribe of Israel's family. 13 Watch the priests who are carrying the Covenant Box. As soon as their feet touch the water of the river, you will see that the water stops running. It will rise up like a wall.’
14 So the Israelite people prepared to leave their tents. The priests carried the Covenant Box towards the Jordan River. The people followed them. 15 It was the time of the harvest and there was a lot of water coming down the river. But when the priests reached the shore of the river with the Covenant Box and their feet touched the water, 16 the water stopped. It stopped a long way up the river, at a town called Adam. That is near Zarethan. The water going down to the Salt Sea stopped completely. So the people crossed the river near Jericho city. 17 The priests stood in the middle of the river on dry ground, with the Lord's Covenant Box. While they stood there, all the Israelite people walked across the river on dry ground. In that way, the whole nation arrived on the other side of the river.
Footnotes
- 3:10 Many different tribes lived in the land of Canaan.
Joshua 3
Darby Translation
3 And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
2 And it came to pass at the end of three days, that the officers went through the camp;
3 and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then remove from your place, and go after it;
4 yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Ye shall not come near it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
5 And Joshua said to the people, Hallow yourselves; for to-morrow Jehovah will do wonders in your midst.
6 And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and go over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
7 And Jehovah said to Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee.
8 And thou shalt command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, stand still in the Jordan.
9 And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of Jehovah your God.
10 And Joshua said, Hereby shall ye know that the living God is in your midst, and [that] he will without fail dispossess from before you the 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 the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into the Jordan.
12 And now take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.
13 And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan, the waters flowing down from above, shall be cut off, and shall stand up in a heap.
14 And it came to pass when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, that the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were before the people;
15 and when they that bore the ark were come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (and the Jordan is full over all its banks throughout the days of harvest),
16 the waters which flowed down from above stood [and] rose up in a heap, very far, by Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan; and those that flowed down towards the sea of the plain, the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people went over opposite to Jericho.
17 And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. And all Israel went over on dry ground, until all the nation had completely gone over the Jordan.
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