Joshua 3

Crossing the Jordan

Israel Comes to the Jordan

1Joshua rose early in the morning, and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim. They came to the Jordan and lodged there before they crossed over. 2And it happened at the end of three days that the officers passed through the midst of the camp 3and commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God and the Levitical priests bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

5Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders in your midst.” 6Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

7And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8And you shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”

9And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Come near and hear the words of the LORD your God.” 10And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will surely drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.

11Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. 12Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe.

13And 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, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

14So 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, 15and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest),

16the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in one heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.

17Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.