Joshua 3
1 So then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they brake up from The Acacias and came as far as the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, —and they lodged there before they passed 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 came to pass, after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp,
After which, the heralds went through the midst of the camp,
3 and commanded the people saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, and, the priests the Levites, bearing it, ye also, shall break up out of your place, and come 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 Yet shall there be, a distance, between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure, —do not come near unto it that ye may get to know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way, heretofore.
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 Then said Joshua unto the people, Hallow yourselves, —for, to-morrow, will Yahweh do in your midst, wonderful things.
And Josue said to the people: Be ye sanctified: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take ye up the ark of the covenant, and pass on before the people. So they took up the ark of the covenant, and went on 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 Then said Yahweh unto Joshua: This day, will I begin to magnify thee in the eyes of all Israel, —who shall know, that, as I was with Moses, I will be with thee.
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 Thou, therefore, shalt command the priests who am bearing the ark of the covenant, saying, —When ye are come as far as the edge of the waters of the Jordan, in the Jordan, shall ye stand.
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 Then said Joshua, unto the sons of Israel, —Draw near hither, and hear ye the words of Yahweh your God.
And Josue said to the children of Israel: Come hither and hear the word of the Lord your God.
10 And Joshua said, Hereby, shall ye know, that a Living GOD is in your midst, —and that he will, certainly dispossess, 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 Lo! the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth, is about to pass 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 Now, therefore, take you twelve men, out of the tribes of Israel, —one man severally for each tribe;
Prepare ye twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every tribe.
13 and it shall be, when the soles of the feet of the priests who are bearing the ark of Yahweh, Lord of all the earth, do rest, in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan, shall be cut off, the waters that are coming down from above, —and shall stand in one mound.
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 came to pass, when the people set out from their tents, to cross the Jordan, —with the priests, bearing 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 then, as the bearers of the ark came as far as the Jordan, and, the feet of the priests who were bearing the ark, were dipped in the edge of the waters, —the Jordan being full over all his 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 which were coming down from above, stood—rose up in one mound, a great way off, by the city Adam, which is beside Zarethan, and, they which were going down to the sea of the waste plain, the salt sea, failed—were cut off, —and, the people, passed over, right against 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 who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, stood on dry ground, in the midst of the Jordan, with firm footing, —while all Israel were passing over on dry ground, until all the nation had made an end of passing 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.
