¹⁸ And John’s disciples brought him [who was now in prison] word of all these things.

¹⁹ And John summoned to him a certain two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord, saying, Are You He Who is to come, or shall we [continue to] look for another?

²⁰ So the men came to Jesus and said, John the Baptist sent us to You to ask, Are You the One Who is to come, or shall we [continue to] look for another?

²¹ In that very hour Jesus was healing many [people] of sicknesses and distressing bodily plagues and evil spirits, and to many who were blind He gave [^[a]a free, gracious, joy-giving gift of] sight.

²² So He replied to them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news (the Gospel) preached to them.^(A)

²³ And blessed (happy—^[b]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from outward conditions—and ^[c]to be envied) is he who takes no offense in Me and who is not hurt or resentful or annoyed or repelled or made to stumble [^[d]whatever may occur].

²⁴ And the messengers of John having departed, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: What did you go out into the desert to gaze on? A reed shaken and swayed by the wind?

²⁵ Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed up in soft garments? Behold, those who wear fine apparel and live in luxury are in the courts or palaces of kings.

²⁶ What then did you go out to see? A prophet (a forthteller)? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet.

²⁷ This is the one of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who shall make ready Your way before You.^(B)

²⁸ I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; but ^[e]he that is inferior [to the other citizens] in the kingdom of God is greater [in incomparable privilege] than he.

²⁹ And all the people who heard Him, even the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God [in ^[f]calling them to repentance and in pronouncing future wrath on the impenitent], being baptized with the baptism of John.

³⁰ But the Pharisees and the lawyers [of the Mosaic Law] annulled and rejected and brought to nothing God’s purpose concerning themselves, by [refusing and] not being baptized by him [John].

³¹ So to what shall I compare the men of this generation? And what are they like?

³² They are like little children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another and saying, We piped to you [playing wedding], and you did not dance; we sang dirges and wailed [playing funeral], and you did not weep.

³³ For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, He has a demon.

³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, Behold, a Man Who is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and notorious sinners.

³⁵ Yet wisdom is vindicated (^[g]shown to be true and divine) by all her children [^[h]by their life, character, and deeds].

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3 Joshua rose early in the morning and they removed from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the Israelites, and lodged there before passing over.

² After three days the officers went through the camp,

³ Commanding the people: When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being borne by the Levitical priests, set out from where you are and follow it.

⁴ Yet a space must be kept between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure; come not near it, that you may [be able to see the ark and] know the way you must go, for you have not passed this way before.

⁵ And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves [that is, separate yourselves for a special holy purpose], for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

⁶ Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before the people. And they took it up and went on before the people.

⁷ The Lord said to Joshua, This day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, so 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, When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.

⁹ Joshua said to the Israelites, Come near, hear the words of the Lord your God.

¹⁰ Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.

¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan!

¹² So now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.

¹³ When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan coming down from above shall be cut off and they shall stand in one heap.

¹⁴ So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,

¹⁵ And when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were in the brink of the water—for the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest—

¹⁶ Then the ^[a]waters which came down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt [Dead] Sea, were wholly cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.^(A)

¹⁷ And while all Israel passed over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

4 When all the nation had fully passed over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,

² Take twelve men from among the people, one man out of every tribe,

³ And command them, Take twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm; carry them over with you and leave them at the place where you lodge tonight.

⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men of the Israelites whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.

⁵ And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan, and take up every man of you a stone on his shoulder, as is the number of the tribes of the Israelites,

⁶ That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, What do these stones mean to you?

⁷ Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever.

⁸ And the Israelites did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.

⁹ And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

¹⁰ For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste.

¹¹ When all the people had passed over, the ark of the Lord and the priests went over in the presence of the people.

¹² And the sons of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the [other] Israelites, as Moses had bidden them;

¹³ About 40,000 [of these] prepared for war passed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle.

¹⁴ On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Joshua,

¹⁶ Order the priests bearing the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.

¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, Come up out of the Jordan.

¹⁸ And when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were lifted up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as they had before.

¹⁹ And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

²⁰ And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.

²¹ And he said to the Israelites, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, What do these stones mean?

²² You shall let your children know, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground.

²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over,

²⁴ That all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may reverence and fear the Lord your God forever.