The Book of Joshua

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 3 -

Joshua and all the other Israelites got up early the next morning. They left their camp at the Acacias and went down to the Jordan River. They camped there before they crossed over the river.

After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp.

They instructed the people, “As soon as you see the priests, some of the descendants of Levi, carrying the sacred chest of Yahweh your God, then you will know it is time to leave this place and follow the sacred chest.

Keep nine hundred meters away from it. Do not come closer than that to it. You do not know the way you should go, since you have not gone this way before.”

Then Joshua told the people, “Perform the ceremonies needed to make yourselves acceptable to Yahweh and to give him honor, because tomorrow he is going to do things for you that will amaze you.”

Then Joshua said to the priests, “Carry the chest and go in front of the people.” So they lifted up the sacred chest and went in front of the people.

Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “This is the day that I will begin to show all the people of Israel that you are a great leader. Then they will honor you and know that, as I was with Moses, I am with you.

Tell the priests who are carrying the sacred chest, ‘When you come to the edge of the Jordan River, stand still in the Jordan.’”

Then Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to what Yahweh, your God, has said.

This is how you will know that God, who can do anything, is among you. With your own eyes you will see how he will take away the land from the Canaanites, the Hethites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.

See! The sacred chest that belongs to the God who rules over all the earth, is about to be carried into the Jordan River ahead of you.

So choose twelve men, one from each of the tribes of Israel.

When the priests who are carrying the chest set their feet in the waters of the Jordan River, the water will stop flowing. The water coming from upstream will stop and stay in one heap. It will not flow down the river.”

So when the Israelites crossed the river, the priests who were carrying sacred chest went in front of them.

And as soon as the priests reached the edge of the Jordan river and stepped into the water (now it was the springtime, when the river floods over its banks),

and the water stopped flowing and it piled up far upstream. The water did not flow in the Jordan from the town called Adam, near Zarethan, all the way down to the Sea of Arabah (which is called the Dead Sea), so the people were able to cross the river near Jericho.

The priests who were carrying the sacred chest of Yahweh stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan River; they continued to stand there until all the people of Israel crossed the river on dry ground.

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.

After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp;

and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it.

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.”

Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

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.

The LORD 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.

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.’”

Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.”

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.

Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord(b) of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.

Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.

It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, 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.”

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,

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),

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.

The priests who bore the ark of the LORD’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.

Footnotes

(a)3:4 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters, so 2,000 cubits is about 920 meters.

(b)3:11 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”