1Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from 3:1 Heb. ShittimAcacia 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 your God, and the priests, the Levites, 3:3 carryingbearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

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, “Sanctify3:5 Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

6Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”

7And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt3:7 make you great you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

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 your God.”

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, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”

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 3:16 Qr., many mss. and vss. from Adamat 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 stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.