Joshua 3
The Voice
3 Early the next morning, with Joshua leading them, the Israelites broke camp, left Shittim, and traveled to the eastern bank of the Jordan to set up camp again before crossing the river. 2 Three days later, the leaders went through the camp 3-4 and gave the Israelites their marching orders.
They camped where Balaam had come to curse Israel and where the men of Israel had gone after the Moabite prostitutes (Numbers 22–25).
Leaders: Tomorrow, you will know it is time to go when you see the Levite priests carrying the covenant chest of the Eternal One, your God. Follow the chest so that you will know where you’re supposed to go because you have not been this way before. But stay about half a mile away from it. Don’t come any nearer than that as you march.
Joshua (to the people): 5 Do all the ritual purifications and prepare yourselves because tomorrow the Eternal will show you wonders.
6 Joshua told the priests from the tribe of Levi to pick up the covenant chest and to walk in front of the people, so the priests lifted the chest and carried it to the front of the procession.
Eternal One (to Joshua): 7 Today I will do wonders that will begin to show the Israelites that you have My special favor, that I am with you just as I was with Moses before you. 8 At your command, the priests will carry the covenant chest into the edge of the Jordan water and they are to stand there in the Jordan, waiting.
9 So Joshua called the Israelites together.
Joshua: Come closer, and hear what your God, the Eternal, has to say: 10 Today you will see a sign that the one, true living God is present among you, the God who will without doubt drive out all this land’s inhabitants: Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. 11 The covenant chest of the Lord of all the earth will pass in front of you into the Jordan River. 12 Now select twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel. 13 When the priests who bear the covenant chest of the Eternal, who is Lord over all the earth, step into the river, then you will see the waters of the Jordan stop as if behind a wall.
14 So the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the covenant chest before them. 15 During harvest time the Jordan is swollen, running over its banks; but when the priests stepped into the river’s edge, 16-17 the waters stopped, piling upstream at the city of Adam, near Zarethan, while the water flowing downstream toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, ran out. Then the Israelites crossed the Jordan opposite the city of Jericho, walking on dry land just as Moses had led their ancestors from Egypt. While the Israelites crossed on the dry riverbed, the priests who carried the covenant chest stood firmly in the middle of the Jordan until the last Israelite had crossed over.
约书亚记 3
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
走过约旦河
3 约书亚清早起来，率领全体以色列人离开什亭，来到约旦河边安营，等候过河。 2 过了三天，官长走遍各营，吩咐民众说： 3 “你们看见做祭司的利未人抬着你们上帝耶和华的约柜出发时，就要起身跟在后面。 4 这样，你们就会知道路，因为你们从来没有走过这条路。但你们要跟约柜保持九百米的距离，不要走近约柜。” 5 约书亚又对民众说：“你们要洁净自己，因为明天耶和华要在你们当中行奇事。” 6 约书亚又对祭司说：“抬起约柜，率领民众过河吧！”他们就抬起约柜，走在民众前面。
7 耶和华对约书亚说：“从今天开始，我要使你在以色列人面前得到尊荣，让他们知道我与你同在，正如从前我跟摩西同在一样。 8 你要吩咐抬约柜的祭司走到约旦河边，站在水中。” 9 约书亚对以色列人说：“你们要来听你们的上帝耶和华的话。 10 今天你们会明白永活的上帝就在你们当中，祂必在你们面前赶走迦南人、赫人、希未人、比利洗人、革迦撒人、亚摩利人和耶布斯人。 11 看啊，天下之主的约柜要在你们前面过约旦河。 12 现在，你们要从以色列的十二支派中选出十二个人来，每支派选一人。 13 当祭司抬着天下之主——耶和华的约柜一踏进约旦河，往下流的河水必会止住，形成一道水堤。”
14-15 那时是收割的季节，河水高涨，淹没两岸。民众拔营准备过河的时候，抬约柜的祭司走在前头，当他们的脚刚一踏进河水， 16 往下流的水立即止住了，在很远的撒拉但附近的亚当城那里涨成一道水墙。流入亚拉巴海，即盐海的水被完全截断了，民众便走到对面的耶利哥。 17 以色列人过河的时候，抬耶和华约柜的祭司站立在河中间的干地上，直到所有人都从干地上过了约旦河。
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.