Joshua 3

1Joshua got up early in the morning. He and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they stopped there for the night before crossing over. 2At the end of three days the officers went throughout the camp. 3They gave the people this order: “As soon as you see the Levitical priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, move out from where you are and follow it. 4But keep a distance of about 3,000 feet between yourselves and the ark; do not go near it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never traveled this way before.”

5Joshua told the people, “Set yourselves apart as holy, because tomorrow the LORD is going to work wonders among you.” 6Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and go across ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went on ahead of the people.

7Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to raise you up in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know I will be with you as I was with Moses. 8Now you are to give an order to the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘Once you have reached the edge of the Jordan’s waters, stop and stand in the river.’”

9Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come over here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.” 10Joshua went on, “Here is the way you will know that the living God is in your midst, and that he will without fail drive out ahead of you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. 11See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going ahead of you into the Jordan. 12Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. 13The priests carrying the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, will set the soles of their feet in the Jordan’s waters, and as soon as they do, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The water flowing down from upstream will stand up in a single heap.” 14So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them, 15and as soon as the men carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the priests’ feet dipped into the edge of the water (the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the harvest season), 16the water flowing down from upstream stopped. It rose up in a single heap a great distance away, at Adam, the town next to Zarethan, while the water running down to the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, was cut off completely. And the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17The priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD took a firm stand on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. Meanwhile all Israel went across on dry ground, until the entire nation had completed the crossing.