Crossing the Jordan

1And Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Shittim† and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodged there before they passed over.

2And it came to pass after three days that the officers went through the camp, 3and they commanded the people, saying, “When you⁺ see the ark of the covenant of YHWH your⁺ God, and the priests, the Levites, lifting it, you⁺ shall set out from your⁺ place and go after it. 4Yet there shall be a space between you⁺ and between it, about two thousand cubits† by measure. Do not come near to it, so that you⁺ may know the way that you⁺ must go, for you⁺ have not passed by this way from yesterday and the day before yesterday.”

5And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow YHWH will do wonders in your⁺ midst.” 6And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before the faces of the people.” And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the faces of the people.

7And YHWH said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so that they may know that as I was with Moses, I will be with you. 8And You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you⁺ have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you⁺ shall stand in the Jordan.’”

9And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Draw near here and listen to the words of YHWH your⁺ God.” 10And Joshua said, “By this you⁺ shall know that the living God is in your⁺ midst, that He will surely dispossess from before you⁺ the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and 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.

12And now take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel—one man—one man for a tribe. 13And it shall come to pass at the resting of the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of YHWH, the Lord of all the earth, in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off—the waters that come down from above—and they shall stand as one heap.”

14And it came to pass, in the journeying of the people from their camp to pass over the Jordan, and of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,

15and at those bearing the ark coming in to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark being dipped into the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows on all its banks all of the days of the harvest), 16that the waters stood still—those coming down from above—and rose in one heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea)† failed, having been cut off, and the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of YHWH stood on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, firm, and all Israel passed over on dry ground until that all the people had finished passing over the Jordan.