Joshua 3:5

5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, because tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders in your midst."

Joshua 3:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 3:5

And Joshua said unto the people
On the third day; and the thirtieth day of the mourning for Moses, Jarchi says, was the first of the three days, and that being the seventh day of the month, this must be the ninth, as it is most clear the morrow was the tenth:

sanctify yourselves;
in a ceremonial sense, by washing their bodies and their clothes, and abstaining from their wives; and in a moral sense, by acts of religion and devotion, by prayer and meditation, and the exercise of repentance and, good works: it may denote that sanctification is necessary to our passage over Jordan, or through death to the heavenly Canaan, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord:

for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you:
in their sight and presence, and for them, by dividing the waters of Jordan, that they might pass through it as on dry land; this, as Kimchi says, was the tenth of Nisan, as is plain from ( Joshua 4:19 ) .

Joshua 3:5 In-Context

3 and they commanded the people: "When you see the Levitical priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God you must set out from your place and go after it.
4 [But] there will be a distance between you and it of about two thousand cubits in measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way that you must go, for you have not passed on [this] way {before}."
5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, because tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders in your midst."
6 And Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross [over] {ahead of the people}." And they took up the ark of the covenant and went {ahead of the people}.
7 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "This day I will begin exalting you {in the sight} of all Israel, that they may know that I was with Moses, and I will be with you.
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.