14 So when the Israeli people packed up their tents in order to cross the river, the priests who were carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments went in front of them. 15 It was springtime, when people harvest their crops, and at that time the river floods over its banks. But as soon as the priests reached the edge of the river and stepped into the water, 16 the water stopped flowing. The water piled up far upstream, at a town named Adam, near Zarethan. The water stopped flowing down to the Dead Sea. So the people were able to cross the river near Jericho. 17 The priests who were carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments that Yahweh had given them stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan riverbed, while the rest of the Israeli people crossed the river as though they were crossing dry ground.