And Joshua rose 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 the Jordan.
And it came to pass after three days, the officers went through the midst of the camp,
and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God and the priests, the Levites, carrying it, then you are to set out from your place and follow it.
Yet there is to be a space between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. Do not come near to it, so that you will know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.”
And Joshua said to the people, “Make yourselves holy, for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you.”
And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel, so that they will know that as I was with Moses, I will be with you.
You are to command the priests who carry the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you are to stand still in the Jordan.’”
And Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Draw near and hear the words of Yahweh your God.”
Joshua said, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will drive out, yes, drive out from before you the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite.
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.
And now take for yourselves 12 men out of the tribes of Israel; one man from each tribe.
It will come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of Yahweh the Lord of all the earth come to rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters coming down from above will stand up in one heap.”
It came to pass, when the people moved from their encampment to cross over the Jordan, the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were before the people,
and when those who carried the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests—those carrying the ark—dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest),
the waters coming 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 completely cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
And the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the nation had crossed completely over the Jordan.