Joshua Chapter 3 1 Joshua rose early in the morning and they moved from Acacia and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel lodged there before they passed over.2 After three days, the officers went through the host.3 They commanded the people saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests the Levites bearing it then move from your place and go after it.4 Keep a space of about 2,000 cubits by measure between you and it. Do not come near it so that you may know the way that you must go. For you have not passed this way before now.5 Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.6 Joshua spoke to the priests saying, Take up the ark of the covenant and pass before the people. So they took the ark of the covenant and went before the people.7 The Lord said to Joshua, Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.8 You shall command the priests that carry the ark of the covenant saying, When you have come to the brink of the water of Jordan, you shall stand still in Jordan.9 Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come here and hear the words of the Lord your God.10 Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and 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.11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into Jordan.12 Now take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.13 As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth will rest in the waters of Jordan. The waters of Jordan will be cut off from the waters that come down from above. They will stand all in a heap.14 When the people moved from their tents to pass over Jordan, and as the priests carried the ark of the covenant before the people,15 and as those who bore the ark had come to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who carried the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, for Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest.16 The waters that came down from above stopped and rose all in a heap, very far from the city Adam that is beside Zaretan. Those who came down to the sea of the plain, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over across from Jericho.17 The priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of Jordan. Then all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people had passed completely over Jordan.
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