Joshua 3

¹Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over.

²So it was, 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 the Lord

⁴Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord

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

⁸You 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.’ ”

⁹So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord

¹⁰And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites:

¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.

¹²Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe.

¹³And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord

¹⁴So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,

¹⁵and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest),

¹⁶that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a 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, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

¹⁷Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord