Joshua 3

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

²At the end of three days the officers went through the camp

³and commanded the people , As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests , then you shall set out from your place and follow it .

⁴Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length . Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go , for you have not passed this way before .

⁵Then Joshua said to the people , Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

⁶And Joshua said to the priests , Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people . So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people .

⁷The 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 as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant , When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan , you shall stand still in the Jordan .

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

¹⁰And Joshua said , Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites , the Hittites , the Hivites , the Perizzites , the Girgashites , the Amorites , and the Jebusites .

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 , from each tribe a man .

¹³And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth , shall 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 brink 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 a 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 .