The Book of Joshua

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 3 -

And Josue rose before daylight, and removed the camp: and they departed from Setim, and came to the Jordan, he, and all the children of Israel, and they abode there for three days.

After which, the heralds went through the midst of the camp,

And began to proclaim: When you shall see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests of the race of Levi carrying it, rise you up also, and follow them as they go before:

And let there be between you and the ark the space of two thousand cubits: that you may see it afar off, and know which way you must go: for you have not gone this way before: and take care you come not near the ark.

And Josue said to the people: Be ye sanctified: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

And he said to the priests: Take up the ark of the covenant, and go before the people. And they obeyed his commands, and took it up and walked before them.

And the Lord said to Josue: This day will I begin to exalt thee before Israel: that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I am with thee also.

And do thou command the priests that carry the ark of the covenant, and say to them: When you shall have entered into part of the water of the Jordan, stand in it.

And Josue said to the children of Israel: Come hither and hear the word of the Lord your God.

And again he said: By this you shall know that the Lord the living God is in the midst of you, and that he shall destroy before your sight the Chanaanite and the Hethite, the Hevite and the Pherezite, the Gergesite also and the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite.

Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you into the Jordan.

Prepare ye twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every tribe.

And when the priests, that carry the ark of the Lord the God of the whole earth, shall set the soles of their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the waters that are beneath shall run down and go off: and those that come from above, shall stand together upon a heap.

So the people went out of their tents, to pass over the Jordan: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant. went on before them.

And as soon as they came into the Jordan, and their feet were dipped in part of the water, (now the Jordan, it being harvest time, had filled the banks of its channel,)

The waters that came down from above stood in one place, and swelling up like a mountain, were seen afar off from the city that is called Adom, to the place of Sarthan: but those that were beneath, ran down into the sea of the wilderness (which now is called the Dead Sea) until they wholly failed.

And the people marched over against Jericho: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood girded upon the dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people passed over through the channel that was dried up.

Joshua got up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They camped there before they crossed over.

After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp;

and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it.

Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits(a) by measure—don’t come closer to it—that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.”

Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

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

The LORD 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.

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.’”

Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.”

Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.

Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord(b) of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.

Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.

It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”

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,

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),

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 near Jericho.

The priests who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.

Footnotes

(a)3:4 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters, so 2,000 cubits is about 920 meters.

(b)3:11 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”