1 Then Joshua rose up early in the morning
and moved out from Shittim
and came to the Jordan,
he and all the sons of Israel,
and lodged there before they passed over.
2 So it happened
after three days,
that the officers passed through
the middle of the camp,
3 and commanded the people, saying,
“When you see the Ark of the Covenant
of Yahweh your God,
and the priests the Levites bearing it,
then you shall move out from your place
and walk behind it.
4 Yet there shall be a space
between you and it
about a thousand cubits by measure.
You shall not come near it.
By this you shall know the way
that you shall walk toward,
for you have never passed this way
in the past.”
5 Then Joshua spoke to the people,
“Sanctify yourselves, for
tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders
in your midst.”
6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying,
“Take up the Ark of the Covenant,
and pass over before the people.”
So they took up the Ark
of the Covenant
and walked before the people.
7 Then Yahweh spoke to Joshua,
“This day I will begin to exalt you
in the eyes of all of Israel,
that they will know that,
as I was with Moses
so I will be with you.
8 And you shall command the priests
who bear the Ark of the Covenant, saying,
“When you come to the edge
of the water of the Jordan,
in the Jordan you shall stand.”
9 Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel,
“Come listen,
and hear the words of Yahweh your God.”
10 Then Joshua said,
“By this you shall know
that the Living God is in your midst,
and that he will surely drive out from before you
the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Hivites, and the Perizites,
and the Girgashites, and the Amorites,
and the Jebusites.
11 “Behold, the Ark
of the Covenant of the Lord of All the Earth,
passing over before you into the Jordan.
12 So now, take for yourselves twelve men
from the tribes of Israel,
one man for each of the tribes.
13 And it will be,
when rest the soles of the feet
of the priests who bear the Ark of Yahweh
the Lord of All the Earth
in the waters of the Jordan,
the waters of the Jordan will be cut off,
the waters that come down from above,
and will stand up in a heap together.”
14 So it happened,
when the people moved out from their tents
to pass over the Jordan,
and the priests who bore the Ark of the
Covenant
before the people,
15 then came those who bore the Ark
to the Jordan.
And the feet of the priests who bore the Ark
were dipped into the edge of the Jordan,
for the Jordan overflows all its banks
all the days of the harvest.
16 Then the waters which came down from above
rose up in a heap together,
from as far away as Adam,
the city which is beside Zaratan.
And those that came down to the Sea of Arabah,
the Salt Sea, failed, were cut off.
And the people passed over before Jericho.
17 And the priests
who bore the Ark of the Covenant
stood firm on dry ground
in the midst of the Jordan,
and all Israel passed over
on dry ground,
until the whole nation was complete
for passing over the Jordan.