3:7 The Lord told Joshua, “This very day I will begin to honor you before all Israel 4 so they will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses. 3:8 Instruct the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, ‘When you reach the bank of the Jordan River, 5 wade into the water.’” 6
3:9 Joshua told the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God!” 3:10 Joshua continued, 7 “This is how you will know the living God is among you and that he will truly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. 3:11 Look! The ark of the covenant of the Ruler 8 of the whole earth is ready to enter the Jordan ahead of you. 3:12 Now select for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one per tribe. 3:13 When the feet 9 of the priests carrying the ark of the Lord, the Ruler 10 of the whole earth, touch 11 the water of the Jordan, the water coming downstream toward you will stop flowing and pile up.” 12
3:14 So when the people left their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went 13 ahead of them. 3:15 When the ones carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the surface 14 of the water – (the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest time) 15 – 3:16 the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. 16 It piled up far upstream 17 at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea). 18 The people crossed the river opposite Jericho. 19 3:17 The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. All Israel crossed over on dry ground until the entire nation was on the other side. 20
1 tn Heb “Get up!”
2 tn Heb “this Jordan”; the word “River” has been supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in v. 11).
3 tc Heb “Cross over this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land that I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.” The final phrase, “to the children of Israel,” is probably a later scribal addition specifying the identity of “these people/them.”
4 tn Or more literally, “to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel.”
5 tn Heb “the edge of the waters of the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.
6 tn Heb “stand in the Jordan.” Here the repetition of the word “Jordan” would be redundant according to contemporary English style, so it was not included in the translation.
7 tn Heb “said.”
8 tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.”
9 tn Heb “the soles of the feet.”
10 tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.”
11 tn Or “rest in.”
12 tn Heb “the waters of the Jordan, the waters descending from above, will be cut off so that they will stand in one pile.”
13 tn The verb, though not in the Hebrew, is added for clarification.
14 tn Heb “dipped into the edge.”
15 tn Heb “and the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest.”
16 tn Heb “the waters descending from above stood still.”
17 tn Heb “they stood in one pile very far away.”
18 tn Heb “the [waters] descending toward the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) were completely cut off.”
19 map For the location of Jericho see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
20 tn Heb “and all Israel was crossing over on dry ground until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”
21 tn “But” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the implied contrast between the Mosaic law and grace through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 seems to indicate clearly that the Old Covenant (Sinai) was being contrasted with the New. In Jewish sources the Law was regarded as a gift from God (Josephus, Ant. 3.8.10 [3.223]; Pirqe Avot 1.1; Sifre Deut 31:4 §305). Further information can be found in T. F. Glasson, Moses in the Fourth Gospel (SBT).
22 tn Grk “And.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
23 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
24 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
25 tn Grk “In those days.”
26 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.