Yehoshua - Chapter 3

1. And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and they moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel; and they lodged before they crossed over.

2. And it was at the end of three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp.

3. And they commanded the people, saying: When you see the Ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then you shall move from your place and go after it.

4. But there shall be a distance between you and it, just two thousand cubits by measure; do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you will go; for you have not passed this way before.

5. And Joshua said to the people; Prepare yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

6. And Joshua said to the priests, saying: Carry the Ark of the covenant, and pass before the people. And they carried the Ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

7. And the Lord said to Joshua: This day I will begin to make you great in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I be with you.

8. And you shall command the priests that bear the Ark of the covenant, saying, When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.

9. And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.

10. And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is in your midst, and He will certainly drive out the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites from before you.

11. Behold, the Ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing ahead of you in the Jordan.

12. And now take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, a man for every tribe.

13. And it shall be, when the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the Ark of the Lord, Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from above, shall stand in one heap.

14. And it was, when the people moved from their tents, to cross the Jordan, and the priests bearing the Ark of the covenant were before the people.

15. And when the bearers of the Ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the Ark were dipped in the edge of the water, and the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest.

16. And the waters which came down from above stood and rose up in one column, very far from Adam, the city which is beside Zarethan; and those that descended to the sea of the plain, the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), were completely cut off, and the people passed over opposite Jericho.

17. And the priests that bore the Ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm arranged on the dry land in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until the whole nation had completely passed over the Jordan.