Joshua 3
1 Joshua [and all the other Israelis] got up early [the next] morning. They left [their camp at] Acacia and went [down] to the Jordan [River]. They camped there for two nights.
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and departed from Sattin; and they came as far as Jordan, and lodged there before they crossed over.
2 Then the leaders went throughout the camp,
And it came to pass after three days, [that] the scribes went through the camp;
3 telling the people, “You will see some of the priests, who are descendants of Levi, carrying the chest that contains the Ten Commandments that Yahweh our God gave us. When you see them, leave the places where you are camped and follow them.
and they charged the people, saying, When ye shall see the ark of the covenant of the Lord our God, and our priests and the Levites bearing it, ye shall depart from your places, and ye shall go after it.
4 You have not been (here/along this road) before, [so you must follow the priests]. But do not walk close to the chest. Stay (1,000 yards/900 meters) from the chest. [The chest is sacred, so (God will punish you/you will be punished) if you come close to it].”
But let there be a distance between you and it; ye shall stand as much as two thousand cubits [from it]. Do not draw nigh to it, that ye may know the way which ye are to go; for ye have not gone the way before.
5 Then Joshua told the people, “Perform the ceremonies needed to make yourselves acceptable to Yahweh, because tomorrow he is going to do things for you that will amaze you!”
And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
6 Then Joshua said to the priests, “Carry the chest and go in front of the [rest of the] people.” So they lifted up the chest and went ahead.
And Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and go before the people: and the priests took up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and went before the people.
7 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “This is the day that I will begin to show all the Israeli people that you are a great leader. Then they will honor you, and know that I am with/helping you as I (was with/helped) Moses.
And the Lord said to Joshua, This day do I begin to exalt thee before all the children of Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I also be with thee.
8 Tell the priests who are carrying the chest that contains the Ten Commandments, ‘When you come to the edge of the Jordan [River], stand in the water.’”
And now charge the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, As soon as ye shall enter on a part of the water of Jordan, then ye shall stand in Jordan.
9 Then Joshua said to the Israeli people, “Come close to me in order that you can listen to what Yahweh, your God, is saying.”
And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come hither, and hearken to the word of the Lord our God.
10 [When they came near], he said to them, “This is how you will know that God, who is all-powerful, is among you, and that he will expel for you the descendants of Canaan, Heth, Hiv, Periz, Girgash, Amor, and Jebus [who are now living in that land].
Hereby ye shall know that the living God [is] among you, and will utterly destroy from before our face the Chananite, and the Chettite and Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Amorite, and the Gergesite, and the Jebusite.
11 Keep in mind that Yahweh is the one who rules over all the earth. The chest belongs to him, and it will be carried into the Jordan River ahead of you.
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over Jordan.
12 So choose twelve men, [one from each] of the tribes of Israel, [and I will tell you later what I want them to do].
Choose for yourselves twelve men of the sons of Israel, one of each tribe.
13 As for the priests who are carrying the chest, as soon as they put their feet into the Jordan [River], the water will stop flowing. It will pile up because I will cause it to be blocked upstream.”
And it shall come to pass, when the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth rest in the water of Jordan, the water of Jordan [below] shall fail, and the water coming down from above shall stop.
14 So when the [Israeli] people packed up their tents in order to cross the river, the priests who were carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments went in front of them.
And the people removed from their tents to cross over Jordan, and the priests bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord before the people.
15 [It was springtime], when people harvest their crops, [and] at that time the river floods over its banks. But as soon as the priests reached the edge of the river and stepped into the water,
And when the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord entered upon Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord were dipped in part of the water of Jordan; (now Jordan overflowed all its banks about the time of wheat harvest: )
16 the water stopped flowing. The water piled up far [upstream], at a town named Adam, near Zarethan. The water stopped flowing down to the Dead Sea. So the people were able to cross the river near Jericho.
then the waters that came down from above stopped; there stood one solid heap very far off, as far as the region of Kariathiarim, and the lower part came down to the sea of Araba, the salt sea, till it completely failed; and the people stood opposite Jericho.
17 The priests who were carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments that Yahweh [had given them] stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan [riverbed], while the rest of the Israeli people crossed the river [as though they were crossing] dry ground.
And the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry land in the midst of Jordan; and all the children of Israel went through on dry land, until all the people had completely gone over Jordan.
