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1 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and departed from Sattin; and they came as far as Jordan, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 And it came to pass after three days, that the scribes went through the camp; 3 and they charged the people, saying, When ye shall see the ark of the covenant of the Lord our God, and our priests and the Levites bearing it, ye shall depart from your places, and ye shall go after it. 4 But let there be a distance between you and it; ye shall stand as much as two thousand cubits from it. Do not draw nigh to it, that ye may know the way which ye are to go; for ye have not gone the way *before.
5 And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you. 6 And Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and go before the people: and the priests took up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and went before the people. 7 And the Lord said to Joshua, This day do I begin to exalt thee before all the children of Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I also be with thee. 8 And now charge the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, As soon as ye shall enter on a part of the water of Jordan, then ye shall stand in Jordan.
9 And Joshua said to the children of Israel, †Come hither, and hearken to the word of the Lord our God. 10 Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and will utterly destroy from before our face the Chananite, and the Chettite and Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Amorite, and the Gergesite, and the Jebusite. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over Jordan. 12 Choose for yourselves twelve men of the sons of Israel, one of each tribe. 13 And it shall come to pass, when the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth rest in the water of Jordan, the water of Jordan below shall fail, and the water coming down from above shall stop.
14 And the people removed from their tents to cross over Jordan, and the priests bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord before the people. 15 And when the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord entered upon Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord were dipped in part of the water of Jordan; (now Jordan ‡overflowed all its banks §about the time of wheat harvest:) 16 then the waters that came down from above stopped; there stood one solid heap very far off, as far as **the region of Kariathiarim, and ††the lower part came down to the sea of Araba, the salt sea, till it completely failed; and the people stood opposite Jericho. 17 And the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry land in the midst of Jordan; and all the children of Israel went through on dry land, until all the people had completely gone over Jordan.
* 3:4 Gr. from yesterday and the third day. A frequent Hebraism. † 3:9 Gr. bring hither. sc. yourselves. ‡ 3:15 Gr. its whole channel. § 3:15 Gr. as on the days. ** 3:16 Gr. a part. †† 3:16 Gr. that which came down.