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Joshua 3

YHWH brings Israel through the flooded Jordan, confirming Joshua’s leadership and his own presence as Lord of all the earth.

Israel camps beside the Jordan after leaving Shittim, with the river overflowing its banks at harvest time. Joshua and the officers tell the people to follow the covenant ark, carried by the priests, while keeping their distance. YHWH promises to establish Joshua’s standing as he did Moses’ and declares that the crossing will show his presence among Israel. When the priests enter the water, the flow stops upstream, and the whole nation crosses on dry ground near Jericho.

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1Joshua got 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.
3and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it.
4Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure—don’t come closer to it—that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.”
5Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
6Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
7The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
8You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”
10Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.
11Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.
12Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.
13It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of GOD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”
14When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people,
15and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),
16the waters which came 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 wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho.
17The priests who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.
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Key verses
Joshua 3:7God links Joshua’s leadership to Moses’, promising that Israel will recognize his presence with their new leader.
Joshua 3:13The promised halt of the Jordan’s waters identifies Israel’s God as Lord over the whole earth.
Joshua 3:16The waters stop as Joshua announced, opening the way for Israel to cross near Jericho.
Where this chapter reaches

Exodus and Psalm share the theme of God making a dry passage through waters for his people. Deuteronomy shares the promise of God’s presence with Joshua and Israel’s entry into the land, while 2 Kings also records crossings of the Jordan through divided waters.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does the ark’s place ahead of the people show about who leads this crossing?

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How does the promise that God is among Israel shape your reading of the flooded river?

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Questions people ask about Joshua 3

How did the Israelites cross the Jordan River in Joshua 3?

The priests carrying the covenant ark stepped into the Jordan while it overflowed its banks. The water flowing from upstream stopped in a heap near Adam, beside Zarethan, and the downstream flow was cut off. The priests stood on dry ground while all Israel crossed near Jericho.

What does sanctify yourselves mean in Joshua 3:5?

Joshua commands the people to prepare themselves as holy before YHWH because he will do wonders among them the next day. The chapter does not specify the rites involved. The command places Israel’s preparation before the crossing, alongside instructions to follow the ark and keep their distance.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).