May
11
Joshua
3, 4
Jos
3:1 Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they moved from
Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel.
They lodged there before they passed over.
Jos
3:2 It happened after three days, that the officers went through the
midst of the camp;
Jos
3:3 and they 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 from your place, and follow it.
Jos
3:4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two
thousand cubits by measure. Don't come near to it, that you may know
the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way
before."
Jos
3:5 Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves; for
tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you."
Jos
3:6 Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of
the covenant, and pass over before the people." They took up the
ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
Jos
3:7 Yahweh said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to magnify you
in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with
Moses, so I will be with you.
Jos
3:8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant,
saying, 'When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you
shall stand still in the Jordan.' "
Jos
3:9 Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear
the words of Yahweh your God."
Jos
3:10 Joshua said, "Hereby you shall know that the living God is
among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, and the
Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and
the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.
Jos
3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth
passes over before you into the Jordan.
Jos
3:12 Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for
every tribe a man.
Jos
3:13 It shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the
priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest
in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be
cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall
stand in one heap."
Jos
3:14 It happened, when the people moved from their tents to pass
over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being
before the people,
Jos
3:15 and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the
feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the
water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of
harvest),
Jos
3:16 that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up
in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside
Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even
the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over right
against Jericho.
Jos
3:17 The priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh stood
firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel passed
over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over
the Jordan.
Jos
4:1 It happened, when all the nation had completely passed over the
Jordan, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
Jos
4:2 "Take twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a
man,
Jos
4:3 and command them, saying, 'Take from out of the middle of the
Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve
stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the
lodging place, where you will lodge tonight.' "
Jos
4:4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the
children of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
Jos
4:5 Joshua said to them, "Pass over before the ark of Yahweh
your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a
stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the
tribes of the children of Israel;
Jos
4:6 that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask
in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?'
Jos
4:7 then you shall tell them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were
cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it passed over
the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall
be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.' "
Jos
4:8 The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up
twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as Yahweh spoke to
Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of
Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they
lodged, and laid them down there.
Jos
4:9 Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the
place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant
stood; and they are there to this day.
Jos
4:10 For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the
Jordan, until everything was finished that Yahweh commanded Joshua to
speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua;
and the people hurried and passed over.
Jos
4:11 It happened, when all the people had completely passed over,
that the ark of Yahweh passed over, with the priests, in the presence
of the people.
Jos
4:12 The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the
half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of
Israel, as Moses spoke to them.
Jos
4:13 About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war passed over
before Yahweh to battle, to the plains of Jericho.
Jos
4:14 On that day, Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all
Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of
his life.
Jos
4:15 Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
Jos
4:16 "Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony,
that they come up out of the Jordan."
Jos
4:17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up
out of the Jordan!"
Jos
4:18 It happened, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant
of Yahweh had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles
of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the
waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its
banks, as before.
Jos
4:19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the
first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.
Jos
4:20 Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the
Jordan, in Gilgal.
Jos
4:21 He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your
children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these
stones mean?'
Jos
4:22 Then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel came
over this Jordan on dry land.
Jos
4:23 For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from
before you, until you had passed over, as Yahweh your God did to the
Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over;
Jos
4:24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Yahweh,
that it is mighty; that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.' "
