Joshua 3 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around 1400 BC or 1250 BC, at the spring barley harvest when the Jordan runs at flood stage
Location
The Jordan River crossing between Shittim on the east bank and the plain before Jericho on the west
Audience
Israelites in the land recalling the founding of their nation, and later readers who needed reassurance that God still acted for his people
Situation
The whole nation moves to the riverbank, and priests carrying the ark of the covenant step into the water first. The flow stops upstream, and the people cross on dry ground while the priests stand in the middle of the riverbed.
Key Background
Spring snowmelt from Mount Hermon swelled the Jordan well past its normal banks, so the timing makes the crossing far harder than it would be in summer, which is the point of mentioning it. The gap of about a thousand yards between the people and the ark reflects the ancient sense that a holy object carried real danger and needed distance, not distrust of the priests. The whole sequence deliberately echoes the Red Sea crossing a generation earlier, publicly confirming Joshua as Moses' successor in front of the entire nation.
Joshua got up early the next morning, and he and all the Israelites left and traveled to the They camped there before crossing.
After three days, the went through the camp,
and gave these orders to the people: "When you see the of the of your God being carried by the break camp and follow it.
But keep a distance of about between you and it — don't get close to it. That way you'll know which way to go, since you've never traveled this road before."
Joshua told the people, because tomorrow Yahweh is going to do among you."
Then Joshua said to the priests, "Pick up the chest of the covenant and walk ahead of the people." So they picked it up and walked ahead of them.
Yahweh said to Joshua, "Today I'm going to begin you in the eyes of all Israel, so they'll know that I'm with you the same way I was with Moses.
You are to command the priests carrying the chest of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go stand in the Jordan.'"
Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of Yahweh your God."
Then Joshua said, "This is how you'll know that the is among you and that he will absolutely out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you:
Look — the chest of the covenant of the of the is about to cross the Jordan ahead of you.
Now choose from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.
And as soon as the feet of the priests carrying the chest of Yahweh — the Master of the whole earth — touch the water of the Jordan, the water flowing downstream will be cut off and will up in a
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the chest of the covenant went ahead of them.
Now the Jordan its throughout the But as soon as the priests carrying the chest reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge,
the water flowing downstream stopped. It rose up in a single mass far upstream at a town called near Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the was completely cut off. And the people crossed over near Jericho.
The priests carrying the chest of the covenant of Yahweh on in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.