(KJV) Joshua 31

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⥃Crossing the Jordan

[1] And Joshua rose early2 in the morning; and they removed from Shittim3, and came to Jordan4, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. [2] And it came to pass after three days5, that the officers went through the host; [3] And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see6 the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests7 the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove8 from your place, and go after it.9 [4] Yet there shall be a space10 between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed [this] way heretofore11. [5] And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify12 yourselves: for to morrow the Lord13 will do wonders among you. [6] And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up14 the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

[7] And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee15 in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was16 with Moses, [so] I will be with thee. [8] And thou shalt command17 the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand18 still in Jordan.

[9] [¶]And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words19 of the Lord your God. [10] And Joshua said, Hereby ye20 shall know that the living21 God [is] among22 you, and [that] he will without fail drive out from23 before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. [11] Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord24 of all the earth passeth25 over before you into Jordan. [12] Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.26 [13] And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles27 of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord28, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, [that] the waters of Jordan shall be cut off [from] the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon29 an heap.

[14] And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark30 of the covenant before the people; [15] And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet31 of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth32 all his banks all the time33 of harvest,) [16] That the waters which came down from above stood [and] rose up34 upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that [is] beside Zaretan35: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, [even] the salt sea36, failed, [and] were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. [17] And the priests37 that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm38 on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites39 passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

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  1. Josh 3:1, Joshua comes to Jordan; Josh 3:2, The officers instruct the people for their passage; Josh 3:7, The Lord encourages Joshua; Josh 3:9, Joshua encourages the people; Josh 3:14, The water of Jordan are divided. ↩

  2. Archbishop Usher supposes, that this was upon Wednesday, the 28th of April, am 2553, the fortieth year of the Exodus from Egypt. From Shittim, where the israelites had been encamped for about two months (Deut 1:3), to the Jordan, was, according to Josephus, about sixty stadia; that is, between seven and eight English miles. Gen 22:3; Ps 119:60; Jer 7:13, Jer 25:3, Jer 26:5; Mark 1:35 ↩

  3. Josh 2:1; Num 25:1; Mic 6:5 ↩

  4. Jordan, called by the Arabs El Sharia, takes its rise in Anti-Libanus, about twelve miles north of Cesarea Philippi, now Banias; and, having run about twelve miles southward, it receives a considerable stream, which is now called the Moiet Hasbeia. About 15 miles farther, it forms the waters of Merom or Semechon, now Houle; and, after running about 28 miles more, it passes through the lake of Gennesareth, and thence runs southward till it loses itself in the Dead Sea; its whole course being about 160 miles. ↩

  5. Josh 1:10-11 ↩

  6. Josh 3:11 ↩

  7. Josh 3:6, Josh 3:8, Josh 3:14-17, Josh 4:10, Josh 6:6; Num 4:15; Deut 31:9, Deut 31:25; 2Sam 6:3, 2Sam 6:13; 1Chr 15:11; 1Chr 15:12 ↩

  8. Exod 13:21-22; Matt 8:19, Matt 16:24; Rev 14:4 ↩

  9. Num 10:33 ↩

  10. Exod 3:5, Exod 19:12; Ps 89:7; Heb 12:28-29 ↩

  11. Heb. since yesterday and the third day, Gen 31:2; Exod 4:10; 1Chr 11:2; Isa 30:33 *marg. ↩

  12. Josh 7:13; Exod 19:10-15; Lev 10:3, Lev 20:7; Num 11:8; 1Sam 16:5; Job 1:5; Joel 2:16; John 17:19 ↩

  13. Josh 3:13, Josh 3:15; Ps 86:10, Ps 114:1-7 ↩

  14. Josh 3:3; Num 14:15, Num 10:33; Mic 2:13; John 14:2-3; Heb 6:20 ↩

  15. Josh 4:14; 1Chr 29:25; 2Chr 1:1; Job 7:17; Ps 18:35; John 17:1; Phil 1:20; Phil 2:9-11 ↩

  16. Josh 1:5, Josh 1:17 ↩

  17. Josh 3:3; 1Chr 15:11-12; 2Chr 17:8-9, 2Chr 29:4-11, 2Chr 29:15, 2Chr 29:27, 2Chr 29:30, 2Chr 30:12, 2Chr 31:9-10; 2Chr 35:2-6; Neh 12:24-28, Neh 13:22, Neh 13:28 ↩

  18. Josh 3:17; Exod 14:13; Lam 3:26 ↩

  19. Deut 4:1, Deut 12:8 ↩

  20. Num 15:28-30; 1Kgs 18:36-37, 1Kgs 22:28; Ps 9:16; Isa 7:14; 2Cor 13:2-3 ↩

  21. Deut 5:26; 1Sam 17:26; 2Kgs 19:4; Jer 10:10; Hos 1:10; Matt 16:16; John 6:69; 1Thess 1:9; Heb 10:31 ↩

  22. Josh 22:31; Exod 17:7; Deut 31:17; Judg 6:12-13 ↩

  23. Josh 21:45; Gen 15:15-18; Exod 3:8, Exod 23:27-30, Exod 33:2; Deut 7:1; Ps 44:2-3 ↩

  24. Josh 3:13; Ps 24:1; Isa 54:5; Jer 10:7; Mic 4:13; Zeph 2:11; Zech 4:14, Zech 6:5; Zech 14:9 ↩

  25. Josh 3:3-6; Isa 3:12 ↩

  26. Josh 4:2, Josh 4:9 ↩

  27. Josh 3:15-16; Exod 14:19-22 ↩

  28. Josh 3:11 ↩

  29. Josh 3:16; Exod 15:8; Ps 33:7, Ps 78:13, Ps 114:3-5; Hab 3:15 ↩

  30. Josh 3:3, Josh 3:6, Josh 6:6; Deut 31:26; Jer 3:16; Acts 7:44-45; 1Cor 1:24-25; Heb 9:4 ↩

  31. Josh 3:13; Isa 26:6 ↩

  32. The ordinary current of the Jordan, near where the Israelites crossed, is said by Maundrell, to be about twenty yards across, deeper than a man's height, and so rapid, that there is no swimming against it. It has, however, two banks; the first, or inner one, is that of the river in its natural state, and the second, or outer one, about a furlong distant, is that of its overflowings, which it does when the summer's sun has melted the snow on mount Lebanon and Hermon, in the months of March and April. And this was the time which God chose that the Israelites should pass over it; that a miraculous interposition might be necessary; and that, by the miracle, they might be convinced of his omnipotence. Josh 4:18; 1Chr 12:15; Jer 12:5, Jer 49:19 ↩

  33. Josh 5:10-12; Lev 23:10-16; Deut 16:1-9 ↩

  34. Josh 3:13; Ps 29:10, Ps 77:19, Ps 114:3; Matt 8:26-27, Matt 14:24-33 ↩

  35. 1Kgs 4:12, Zartanah, 1Kgs 7:46, Zarthan ↩

  36. Josh 15:2; Gen 14:3; Num 34:3; Deut 3:17; The passage through the Red Sea took place in the night, when the Israelites were fleeing from the Egyptians with great trepidation, but they passed Jordan in the day-time, with previous warning, leisurely, directly opposite to Jericho, and with a triumphant defiance of the Canaanites; this passage into the promised land evidently typifying the believer's passage through death to heaven. ↩

  37. Josh 3:3-6 ↩

  38. Josh 4:3; 2Kgs 2:8 ↩

  39. Exod 14:22, Exod 14:29; Ps 66:6; Isa 25:8; Heb 11:29 ↩