Chapter 3
1 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 .
2 After three days , the officers went through the middle of the camp ;
3 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 .
4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits 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 ."
5 Joshua said to the people , " Sanctify yourselves ; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders amongst you ."
6 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 .
7 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 .
8 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 .’"
9 Joshua said to the children of Israel , " Come here , and hear the words of the LORD your God ."
10 Joshua said, " By this you shall know that the living God is amongst 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 .
11 Behold , the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan .
12 Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel , for every tribe a man.
13 It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of GOD , ", usually pronounced Yahweh). 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 ."
14 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 ,
15 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 ),
16 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 towards the sea of the Arabah , even the Salt Sea , were wholly cut off . Then the people passed over near Jericho .
17 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 .