1 De manhã bem cedo Josué e todos os israelitas partiram de Sitim e foram para o Jordão, onde acamparam antes de atravessar o rio.
2 Três dias depois, os oficiais percorreram o acampamento,
3 e deram esta ordem ao povo: "Quando virem a arca da aliança do Senhor, o seu Deus, e os sacerdotes levitas carregando a arca, saiam das suas posições e sigam-na.
4 Mas mantenham a distância de cerca de novecentos metros entre vocês e a arca; não se aproximem! Desse modo saberão que caminho seguir, pois vocês nunca passaram por lá".
5 Josué ordenou ao povo: "Santifiquem-se, pois amanhã o Senhor fará maravilhas entre vocês".
6 E disse aos sacerdotes: "Levantem a arca da aliança e passem à frente do povo". Eles a levantaram e foram na frente.
7 E o Senhor disse a Josué: "Hoje começarei a exaltá-lo à vista de todo o Israel, para que saibam que estarei com você como estive com Moisés.
8 Portanto, você é quem dará a seguinte ordem aos sacerdotes que carregam a arca da aliança: ‘Quando chegarem às margens das águas do Jordão, parem junto ao rio’ ".
9 Então Josué disse aos israelitas: "Venham ouvir as palavras do Senhor, o seu Deus.
10 Assim saberão que o Deus vivo está no meio de vocês e que certamente expulsará de diante de vocês os cananeus, os hititas, os heveus, os ferezeus, os girgaseus, os amorreus e os jebuseus.
11 Vejam, a arca da aliança do Soberano de toda a terra atravessará o Jordão à frente de vocês.
12 Agora, escolham doze israelitas, um de cada tribo.
13 Quando os sacerdotes que carregam a arca do Senhor, o Soberano de toda a terra, puserem os pés no Jordão, a correnteza será represada e as águas formarão uma muralha".
14 Quando, pois, o povo desmontou o acampamento para atravessar o Jordão, os sacerdotes que carregavam a arca da aliança foram adiante.
15 ( O Jordão transborda em ambas as margens na época da colheita. ) Assim que os sacerdotes que carregavam a arca da aliança chegaram ao Jordão e seus pés tocaram as águas,
16 a correnteza que descia parou de correr e formou uma muralha a grande distância, perto de uma cidade chamada Adã, nas proximidades de Zaretã; e as águas que desciam para o mar da Arabá, o mar Salgado, escoaram totalmente. E assim o povo atravessou o rio em frente de Jericó.
17 Os sacerdotes que carregavam a arca da aliança do Senhor ficaram parados em terra seca no meio do Jordão, enquanto todo o Israel passava, até que toda a nação o atravessou também em terra seca.
1 So then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they brake up from The Acacias and came as far as the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel,and they lodged there before they passed over.
2 And it came to pass, after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp,
3 and commanded the people saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, and, the priests the Levites, bearing it, ye also, shall break up out of your place, and come after it.
4 Yet shall there be, a distance, between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure,do not come near unto it that ye may get to know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way, heretofore.
5 Then said Joshua unto the people, Hallow yourselves,for, to-morrow, will Yahweh do in your midst, wonderful things.
6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take ye up the ark of the covenant, and pass on before the people. So they took up the ark of the covenant, and went on before the people.
7 Then said Yahweh unto Joshua: This day, will I begin to magnify thee in the eyes of all Israel,who shall know, that, as I was with Moses, I will be with thee.
8 Thou, therefore, shalt command the priests who am bearing the ark of the covenant, saying,When ye are come as far as the edge of the waters of the Jordan, in the Jordan, shall ye stand.
9 Then said Joshua, unto the sons of Israel,Draw near hither, and hear ye the words of Yahweh your God.
10 And Joshua said, Hereby, shall ye know, that a Living GOD is in your midst,and that he will, certainly dispossess, from before you, the Canaanite and the Hittite, and the Hivite and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite.
11 Lo! the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth, is about to pass before you into the Jordan.
12 Now, therefore, take you twelve men, out of the tribes of Israel,one man severally for each tribe;
13 and it shall be, when the soles of the feet of the priests who are bearing the ark of Yahweh, Lord of all the earth, do rest, in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan, shall be cut off, the waters that are coming down from above,and shall stand in one mound.
14 And it came to pass, when the people set out from their tents, to cross the Jordan,with the priests, bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,
15 then, as the bearers of the ark came as far as the Jordan, and, the feet of the priests who were bearing the ark, were dipped in the edge of the waters,the Jordan being full over all his banks, all the days of harvest,
16 that the waters which were coming down from above, stoodrose up in one mound, a great way off, by the city Adam, which is beside Zarethan, and, they which were going down to the sea of the waste plain, the salt sea, failedwere cut off,and, the people, passed over, right against Jericho.
17 And the priests who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, stood on dry ground, in the midst of the Jordan, with firm footing,while all Israel were passing over on dry ground, until all the nation had made an end of passing over the Jordan.