HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 566
JOSHUA 4
the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant:
‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River,
take a few steps into the river and stop there.’”
9 So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and
listen to what the Lord your God says. 10 Today
you will know that the living God is among you.
He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites,
and Jebusites ahead of you. 11 Look, the Ark of
the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the
whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan
River! 12 Now choose twelve men from the tribes
of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 The priests will
carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the
earth. As soon as their feet touch the water,
the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and
the river will stand up like a wall.”
14 So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark
of the Covenant went ahead of them. 15 It was
the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the
priests who were carrying the Ark touched the
water at the river’s edge, 16 the water above that
point began backing up a great distance away
at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan.
And the water below that point flowed on to the
Dead Sea* until the riverbed was dry. Then all the
people crossed over near the town of Jericho.
17 Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying
the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant stood on dry
ground in the middle of the riverbed as the
people passed by. They waited there until the
whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan
on dry ground.
Memorials to the Jordan Crossing
When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Now
choose twelve men, one from each tribe. 3 Tell
them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place
where the priests are standing in the middle of
the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at
the place where you will camp tonight.’”
4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he
had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. 5 He told them, “Go into the middle of the
Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God.
Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it
out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one
for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 6 We will
use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these
stones mean?’ 7 Then you can tell them, ‘They
remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went
across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial
among the people of Israel forever.”
8 So the men did as Joshua had commanded
them. They took twelve stones from the middle
of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as
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the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to
the place where they camped for the night and
constructed the memorial there.
9 Joshua also set up another pile of twelve
stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place
where the priests who carried the Ark of the
Covenant were standing. And they are there to
this day.
10 The priests who were carrying the Ark stood
in the middle of the river until all of the Lord’s
commands that Moses had given to Joshua were
carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried
across the riverbed. 11 And when everyone was
safely on the other side, the priests crossed over
with the Ark of the Lord as the people watched.
12 The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the
Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had
directed. 13 These armed men—about 40,000
strong—were ready for battle, and the Lord was
with them as they crossed over to the plains of
Jericho.
14 That day the Lord made Joshua a great
leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for
the rest of his life they revered him as much as
they had revered Moses.
15 The Lord had said to Joshua, 16 “Command
the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant* to
come up out of the riverbed.” 17 So Joshua gave
the command. 18 As soon as the priests carrying
the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant came up out
of the riverbed and their feet were on high
ground, the water of the Jordan returned and
overflowed its banks as before.
19 The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth
day of the first month.* Then they camped at
Gilgal, just east of Jericho. 20 It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken
from the Jordan River.
21 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones
mean?’ 22 Then you can tell them, ‘This is where
the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
23 For the Lord your God dried up the river right
before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you
were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea*
when he dried it up until we had all crossed over.
24 He did this so all the nations of the earth might
know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so
you might fear the Lord your God forever.”
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When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived
along the Mediterranean coast* heard how
the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the
people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and
were paralyzed with fear because of them.
3:16 Hebrew the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea. 4:16 Hebrew
Ark of the Testimony. 4:19 This day in the ancient Hebrew
lunar calendar occurred in late March, April, or early May.
4:23 Hebrew sea of reeds. 5:1 Hebrew along the sea.