Discovery BoxJoshua 3:1--5:12
Context3:1 Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan. 1 They camped there before crossing the river. 2 3:2 After three days the leaders went through the camp 3:3 and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God 3 being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here 4 and walk 5 behind it. 3:4 But stay about three thousand feet behind it. 6 Keep your distance 7 so you can see 8 which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”
3:5 Joshua told the people, “Ritually consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will perform miraculous deeds among you.” 3:6 Joshua told the priests, “Pick up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they picked up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.
3:7 The Lord told Joshua, “This very day I will begin to honor you before all Israel 9 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, 10 wade into the water.’” 11
3:9 Joshua told the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God!” 3:10 Joshua continued, 12 “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 13 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 14 of the priests carrying the ark of the Lord, the Ruler 15 of the whole earth, touch 16 the water of the Jordan, the water coming downstream toward you will stop flowing and pile up.” 17
3:14 So when the people left their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went 18 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 19 of the water – (the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest time) 20 – 3:16 the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. 21 It piled up far upstream 22 at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea). 23 The people crossed the river opposite Jericho. 24 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. 25
4:1 When the entire nation was on the other side, 26 the Lord told Joshua, 4:2 “Select for yourselves twelve men from the people, one per tribe. 4:3 Instruct them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests 27 stand firmly, and carry them over with you and put them in the place where you camp tonight.’”
4:4 Joshua summoned the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one per tribe. 4:5 Joshua told them, “Go in front of the ark of the Lord your God to the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to put a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the Israelite tribes. 4:6 The stones 28 will be a reminder to you. 29 When your children ask someday, ‘Why are these stones important to you?’ 4:7 tell them how the water of the Jordan stopped flowing 30 before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan stopped flowing. 31 These stones will be a lasting memorial for the Israelites.”
4:8 The Israelites did just as Joshua commanded. They picked up twelve stones, according to the number of the Israelite tribes, from the middle of the Jordan as the Lord had instructed Joshua. They carried them over with them to the camp and put them there. 4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones 32 in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood. They remain there to this very day.
4:10 Now the priests carrying the ark of the covenant were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people was accomplished, in accordance with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people went across quickly, 4:11 and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed as the people looked on. 33 4:12 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed for battle ahead of the Israelites, just as Moses had instructed them. 4:13 About forty thousand battle-ready troops 34 marched past the Lord to fight 35 on the plains of Jericho. 36 4:14 That day the Lord brought honor to Joshua before all Israel. They respected 37 him all his life, 38 just as they had respected 39 Moses.
4:15 The Lord told Joshua, 4:16 “Instruct the priests carrying the ark of the covenantal laws 40 to come up from the Jordan.” 4:17 So Joshua instructed the priests, “Come up from the Jordan!” 4:18 The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and as soon as they set foot on dry land, 41 the water of the Jordan flowed again and returned to flood stage. 42
4:19 The people went up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month 43 and camped in Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 44 4:20 Now Joshua set up in Gilgal the 45 twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan. 4:21 He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’ 46 4:22 explain 47 to your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan River 48 on dry ground.’ 4:23 For the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you while you crossed over. It was just like when the Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before us while we crossed it. 49 4:24 He has done this so 50 all the nations 51 of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power 52 and so you might always obey 53 the Lord your God.”
5:1 When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they 54 crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites. 55
5:2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites once again.” 56 5:3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites on the Hill of the Foreskins. 57 5:4 This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt. 58 5:5 Now 59 all the men 60 who left were circumcised, but all the sons 61 born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised. 5:6 Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. 62 For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, 63 a land rich in 64 milk and honey. 5:7 He replaced them with their sons, 65 whom Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised; their fathers had not circumcised them along the way. 5:8 When all the men 66 had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed. 5:9 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have taken away 67 the disgrace 68 of Egypt from you.” So that place is called Gilgal 69 even to this day.
5:10 So the Israelites camped in Gilgal and celebrated the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho. 70 5:11 They ate some of the produce of the land the day after the Passover, including unleavened bread and roasted grain. 71 5:12 The manna stopped appearing the day they ate 72 some of the produce of the land; the Israelites never ate manna again. 73
[3:1] 1 tn Heb “And Joshua arose early in the morning and he and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan.”
[3:1] 2 tn The words “the river,” though not in the Hebrew text, have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[3:3] 3 sn The ark of the covenant refers to the wooden chest that symbolized God’s presence among his covenant people.
[3:3] 4 tn Heb “set out from your place.”
[3:4] 6 tn Heb “But there should be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits in measurement.”
[3:4] 7 tn Heb “do not approach it.”
[3:7] 9 tn Or more literally, “to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel.”
[3:8] 10 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.
[3:8] 11 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.
[3:11] 13 tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.”
[3:13] 14 tn Heb “the soles of the feet.”
[3:13] 15 tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.”
[3:13] 17 tn Heb “the waters of the Jordan, the waters descending from above, will be cut off so that they will stand in one pile.”
[3:14] 18 tn The verb, though not in the Hebrew, is added for clarification.
[3:15] 19 tn Heb “dipped into the edge.”
[3:15] 20 tn Heb “and the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest.”
[3:16] 21 tn Heb “the waters descending from above stood still.”
[3:16] 22 tn Heb “they stood in one pile very far away.”
[3:16] 23 tn Heb “the [waters] descending toward the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) were completely cut off.”
[3:16] 24 map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[3:17] 25 tn Heb “and all Israel was crossing over on dry ground until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”
[4:1] 26 tn Heb “And when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”
[4:3] 27 tn Heb “the feet of the priests.”
[4:6] 28 tn Heb “that this may be”; the referent of “this” (the twelve stones) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:6] 29 tn Heb “in order that this might be a sign among you.”
[4:7] 30 tn Heb “were cut off from before.”
[4:7] 31 tn Heb “how the waters descending from above stood still.”
[4:9] 32 tn Here “also” has been supplied in the translation to make it clear (as indicated by v. 20) that these are not the same stones the men took from the river bed.
[4:11] 33 tn Heb “in the presence of the people.”
[4:13] 34 tn Heb “men equipped for battle.”
[4:13] 36 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[4:14] 38 tn Heb “all the days of his life.”
[4:14] 39 tn Heb “had feared.”
[4:16] 40 tn Traditionally, “the ark of the testimony,” another name for the ark of the covenant. The Hebrew term עֵדוּת (’edut, “testimony” or “witness”) here refers to the Mosaic covenant and the body of stipulations contained within it (see HALOT 2:791).
[4:18] 41 tn Heb “and the soles of the feet of the priests were brought up to the dry land.”
[4:18] 42 tn Heb “and the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and went as formerly over their banks.”
[4:19] 43 sn The first month was the month Abib (= late March-early April in the modern calendar). The Passover in Egypt also occurred on the tenth day of the first month (Exod 12:2; 13:4).
[4:19] 44 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[4:20] 45 tn Heb “these,” referring specifically to the twelve stones mentioned in vv. 3-7.
[4:21] 46 tn Heb “What are these stones?”
[4:22] 47 tn Heb “make known.”
[4:22] 48 tn Heb “crossed this Jordan”; the word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the meaning.
[4:23] 49 tn Heb “just as the
[4:24] 50 tn Heb “in order that.”
[4:24] 52 tn Heb “know the hand of the
[5:1] 54 tc Another textual tradition has, “while we crossed.”
[5:1] 55 tn Heb “their heart[s] melted and there was no longer in them breathe because of the sons of Israel.”
[5:2] 56 tn Heb “return, circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense to indicate the repetition of an action.
[5:3] 57 tn Or “Gibeath Haaraloth.” This name means “Hill of the Foreskins.” Many modern translations simply give the Hebrew name, although an explanatory note giving the meaning of the name is often included.
[5:4] 58 tn Heb “All the people who went out from Egypt, the males, all the men of war, died in the desert in the way when they went out from Egypt.”
[5:5] 61 tn Heb “all the people.”
[5:6] 62 tn Heb “all the nation, the men of war who went out from Egypt, who did not listen to the voice of the
[5:6] 63 tn Some Hebrew
[5:6] 64 tn Heb “flowing with.”
[5:7] 65 tn Heb “their sons he raised up in their place.”
[5:9] 67 tn Heb “rolled away.”
[5:9] 68 sn One might take the disgrace of Egypt as a reference to their uncircumcised condition (see Gen 34:14), but the generation that left Egypt was circumcised (see v. 5). It more likely refers to the disgrace they experienced in Egyptian slavery. When this new generation reached the promised land and renewed their covenantal commitment to the Lord by submitting to the rite of circumcision, the
[5:9] 69 sn The name Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew verb “roll away” (גַּלַל, galal).
[5:10] 70 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[5:11] 71 tn The Hebrew text adds, “on this same day.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has not been translated.
[5:12] 72 tn Heb “the day after, when they ate.” The present translation assumes this means the day after the Passover, though it is possible it refers to the day after they began eating the land’s produce.
[5:12] 73 tn Heb “and the sons of Israel had no more manna.”
