Joshua 3
1 And Joshua rises early in the morning, and they journey from Shittim, and come to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodge there before they pass over.
And Josue rose before daylight, and removed the camp: and they departed from Setim, and came to the Jordan, he, and all the children of Israel, and they abode there for three days.
2 And it comes to pass, at the end of three days, that the authorities pass over into the midst of the camp,
After which, the heralds went through the midst of the camp,
3 and command the people, saying, “When you see the Ark of the Covenant of your God YHWH, and the priests, the Levites, carrying it, then you journey from your place, and have gone after it;
And began to proclaim: When you shall see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests of the race of Levi carrying it, rise you up also, and follow them as they go before:
4 only, a distance is between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure; you do not come near to it, so that you know the way in which you go, for you have not passed over in the way before.”
And let there be between you and the ark the space of two thousand cubits: that you may see it afar off, and know which way you must go: for you have not gone this way before: and take care you come not near the ark.
5 And Joshua says to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow YHWH does wonders in your midst.”
And Josue said to the people: Be ye sanctified: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
6 And Joshua speaks to the priests, saying, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and pass over before the people”; and they take up the Ark of the Covenant, and go before the people.
And he said to the priests: Take up the ark of the covenant, and go before the people. And they obeyed his commands, and took it up and walked before them.
7 And YHWH says to Joshua, “This day I begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel, so that they know that as I was with Moses I am with you;
And the Lord said to Josue: This day will I begin to exalt thee before Israel: that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I am with thee also.
8 and you, command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, saying, When you come to the extremity of the waters of the Jordan, stand in the Jordan.”
And do thou command the priests that carry the ark of the covenant, and say to them: When you shall have entered into part of the water of the Jordan, stand in it.
9 And Joshua says to the sons of Israel, “Come near here, and hear the words of your God YHWH”;
And Josue said to the children of Israel: Come hither and hear the word of the Lord your God.
10 and Joshua says, “By this you know that the living God [is] in your midst, and He certainly dispossesses from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite:
And again he said: By this you shall know that the Lord the living God is in the midst of you, and that he shall destroy before your sight the Chanaanite and the Hethite, the Hevite and the Pherezite, the Gergesite also and the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite.
11 behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan;
Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you into the Jordan.
12 and now, take for yourselves twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one man—one man for a tribe;
Prepare ye twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every tribe.
13 and it has been, at the resting of the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Ark of YHWH, Lord of all the earth, in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan are cut off—the waters which are coming down from above—and they stand—one heap.”
And when the priests, that carry the ark of the Lord the God of the whole earth, shall set the soles of their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the waters that are beneath shall run down and go off: and those that come from above, shall stand together upon a heap.
14 And it comes to pass, in the journeying of the people from their tents to pass over the Jordan, and of the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant before the people,
So the people went out of their tents, to pass over the Jordan: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant. went on before them.
15 and at those carrying the Ark coming to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the Ark have been dipped in the extremity of the waters (and the Jordan is full over all its banks all the days of harvest)—
And as soon as they came into the Jordan, and their feet were dipped in part of the water, (now the Jordan, it being harvest time, had filled the banks of its channel, )
16 that the waters stand; those coming down from above have risen—one heap, very far above Adam, the city which [is] at the side of Zaretan; and those going down by the Sea of the Plain (the Salt Sea), have been completely cut off; and the people have passed through opposite Jericho;
The waters that came down from above stood in one place, and swelling up like a mountain, were seen afar off from the city that is called Adom, to the place of Sarthan: but those that were beneath, ran down into the sea of the wilderness (which now is called the Dead Sea) until they wholly failed.
17 and the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH stand on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan—established, and all Israel are passing over on dry ground until all the nation has completed to pass over the Jordan.
And the people marched over against Jericho: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood girded upon the dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people passed over through the channel that was dried up.
