The Message Bible MSG
New International Version NIV
8 You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: 'When you come to the edge of the Jordan's waters, stand there on the river bank.'"
8
Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ ”
9 Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: "Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say.
9
Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.
10 This is how you'll know that God is alive among you - he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.
10
This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.
11 Look at what's before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it - the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch.
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See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.
12 Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe.
12
Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.
13 When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan's water, the flow of water will be stopped - the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap."
13
And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
14 And that's what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant.
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So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.
15 When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest),
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Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,
16 the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap - a long way off - at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho.
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the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
17 And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.
17
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.