Joshua 3-4

International Standard Version

Joshua Prepares to Conquer Jericho

3 Joshua got up early the next morning. Accompanied by all the Israelis, he set out from the Acacia groves and arrived at the Jordan River, where they encamped before crossing it. ² Three days later, the officers went throughout the camp, ³ giving orders to the people. They said, “When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then get up, leave where you are, and follow it. ⁴ Be sure to keep a distance of about 2,000 cubits^[a] between you and it. Don’t come near it, so you can be certain where you’re going, since you haven’t passed this way before.”

⁵ Then Joshua addressed the people: “Consecrate yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will do marvelous things among you.”

⁶ After this, Joshua^[b] instructed the priests, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the Ark of the Covenant and went on ahead of the people.

The Lord Addresses Joshua

⁷ At this point, the Lord told Joshua, “Today I’m going to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they’ll be sure that I’m going to be with you just as I was with Moses. ⁸ Give this command to the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you arrive at the water of the Jordan River, stand still in the Jordan.’”

Joshua Addresses Israel

⁹ So Joshua told the Israelis, “Come here and listen to what the Lord your God has to say.” ¹⁰ Joshua continued, “This is how you’ll know that the living God really is among you: he’s going to remove the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites right in front of you. ¹¹ Look! The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of whole the earth is crossing ahead of you into the Jordan River. ¹² So take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. ¹³ When the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, touch the water in the Jordan River, the water that feeds the Jordan will be cut off from above and they’ll stand still in a single location.”

The Jordan River Stops Flowing

¹⁴ So the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan River, with the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant in full view of the people. ¹⁵ When the priests who carried the ark entered the Jordan River, as their feet touched the water’s edge (The Jordan River overflows all of its banks daily during the harvest season.), ¹⁶ the water flowing downstream from above stood still in a single location, a great distance away at Adam, a city near Zarethan. The water that flowed south toward the sea in the Arabah (that is, the Dead^[c] Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ The priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan River, while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan River.

The Jordan River Memorial

4 As soon as the entire nation had completed its crossing of the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua. He said, ² “Gather together twelve men from the people—one man from each tribe— ³ and tell them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests’ feet were standing, bring them along with you, and put them down where you camp tonight.’”

⁴ So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had chosen from the people of Israel, one man from each tribe. ⁵ Joshua told them, “Cross over again in front of the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan River. Then each of you pick up a stone on his shoulder with which to build a memorial,^[d] one for each of the tribes of Israel. ⁶ Let this serve as^[e] a sign among you, so that when your children ask in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you,’ ⁷ then you’ll say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan River were cut off in front of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan River, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones will become a memorial to the Israelis forever.”

⁸ The Israelis did just as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River—just as the Lord had spoken to Joshua—according to the number of the tribes of the Israelis, and they carried them over to where they would be pitching camp, and they put them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan River at the location where the feet of the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had been standing, and they remain there to this day.

Crossing the Jordan River

¹⁰ The priests who were carrying the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan River until everything had been done in accordance with what the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people and with everything that Moses had commanded Joshua. So the people hurried and crossed over. ¹¹ When all of the people had completed their crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in full view of the people. ¹² Just as Moses had directed, the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, dressed in battle regalia, in full view of the other^[f] Israelis. ¹³ About 40,000 soldiers equipped to do battle in the Lord’s presence crossed over to the desert plains of Jericho.

¹⁴ That day, the Lord exalted Joshua in the presence of all Israel so that they revered him just as they had revered Moses throughout his life.

¹⁵ Now the Lord had told Joshua, ¹⁶ “Command the priests who carry the Ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan River.”

¹⁷ So Joshua ordered the priests, “Come up from the Jordan River.”

¹⁸ As soon as the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan River, and the soles of the priests’ feet came up to dry ground, the water of the Jordan River returned to normal,^[g] covering its banks as it had done so before.

Why Joshua Set up the Memorial

¹⁹ The people came up from the Jordan River on the tenth day^[h] of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern outskirts of Jericho. ²⁰ Joshua set up the twelve stones that they had removed from the Jordan River at Gilgal. ²¹ Then he told the Israelis, “When your descendants ask their parents in years to come, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ ²² you are to tell your descendants: ‘Israel crossed this Jordan River on dry ground ²³ because the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan River right in front of you, until you had crossed over, just as the Lord your God had done to the Reed^[i] Sea—which he had dried up in front of us until we had crossed it also.’ ²⁴ Do this^[j] so that all of the people of the earth may know how strong the power^[k] of the Lord is, and so that you may fear the Lord your God every day.”