Joshua 3:12

12 Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve lineages of Israel, by each lineage one man. (Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve tribes of Israel, one man out of each tribe.)

Joshua 3:12 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 3:12

Now therefore take ye twelve men
For what end and purpose is not mentioned. Abarbinel is of opinion, that they were chosen and appointed, that every man might pitch upon and take a place for his tribe to encamp in, when they came on the other side Jordan: whether this was Joshua's view or no is not certain; however, the use he made of these, thus provided by divine direction, is related ( Joshua 4:2-4 ) ;

and these were to be taken out of the tribes of Israel, out of every
tribe a man;
Levi not reckoned, having no part in the land; and so we find that tribe left out in other accounts, when there was a choice of twelve men out of each of the tribes, ( Numbers 13:4 ) ( 34:19 ) .

Joshua 3:12 In-Context

10 And again he said, In this ye shall know that the Lord God living is in the midst of you (And he said, By this ye shall know that the living God is in the midst of you); and he shall destroy in your sight (the) Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, and Perizzites, and Girgashites, and Jebusites, and Amorites.

11 Lo! the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord of all earth shall go before you through Jordan. (Lo! the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you across the Jordan River.)

12 Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve lineages of Israel, by each lineage one man. (Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve tribes of Israel, one man out of each tribe.)

13 And when the priests, that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord God of all earth (who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord God of all the earth), have set the steps of their feet in the waters of (the) Jordan, the waters that be lower shall run down, and shall fail; soothly the waters that come from above shall stand together in one gathering, or (in) a certain place.

14 Therefore the people went out of their tabernacles for to pass over (the) Jordan; and the priests that bare the ark of [the] bond of peace went before the people. (And so the people went out of their tents to cross over the Jordan River; and the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant went before the people.)