1Ug si Josue mibangon sayo sa kabuntagon; ug mingpahawa sila sa Sitim ug nangadto sa Jordan, siya ug ang tanang mga anak sa Israel, ug namuyo sila didto sa wala pa manabok. 2Ug nahitabo nga sa nangagi na ang totolo ka adlaw, ang mga punoan nanulod sa taliwala sa campo; 3Ug sila nanagsugo sa katawohan, nga nagaingon: Kong hilantawan ninyo ang arca sa tugon ni Jehova, nga inyong Dios, ug ang mga sacerdote nga Levihanon nga nanagyayong kaniya, mamahawa kamo sa inyong dapit ug mosunod niana. 4Apan kinahanglan nga may luna sa taliwala ninyo ug niana, nga may duha ka libo ka maniko ang gilay-on: ayaw pagpaduol niana aron mahibalo kamo sa dalan nga inyong pagalaktan; kay wala ninyo kini hiagii kaniadto. 5Ug si Josue miingon sa katawohan: Magputli kamo sa inyong kaugalingon; kay ugma si Jehova magbuhat ug mga katingalahan sa inyong taliwala. 6Ug si Josue misulti sa mga sacerdote, nga nagaingon: Kuhaa ang arca sa tugon ug umagi kamo sa atubangan sa katawohan; ug gidala nila ang arca sa tugon ug nag-una sa katawohan. 7Ug si Jehova miingon kang Josue: Niining adlawa sugdan ko ang pagpadaku kanimo sa atubangan sa tanang taga-Israel, aron ilang hibaloan nga ingon nga ako nag-uban kang Moises, magauban usab ako kanimo. 8Ug sugoon mo ang mga sacerdote nga nanagyayong sa arca sa tugon sa pag-ingon: Kong mahiabut kamo sa daplin sa mga tubig sa Jordan, mohunong kamo ug motindog sa Jordan. 9Ug si Josue namulong sa mga anak sa Israel: Umari kamo diri, ug patalinghugi ang mga pulong ni Jehova nga inyong Dios. 10Ug si Josue miingon: Sukad karon hibaloan ninyo nga ang buhing Dios anaa uban kaninyo, ug sa walay duhaduha siya magapapahawa gikan kaninyo sa mga Canaanhon, ug sa mga Hetehanon, ug sa mga Hevehanon, ug sa mga Peresehanon, ug sa mga Gergesehanon, ug sa mga Amorehanon, ug sa mga Jebusehanon. 11Ania karon, ang arca sa tugon ni Jehova Ginoo sa tibook nga kalibutan, moagi sa inyong atubangan ngadto sa Jordan. 12Busa karon kumuha kamo ug napulo ug duha ka tawo gikan sa mga banay sa Israel, usa ka tawo sa matag-banay. 13Ug mahanabo nga sa paghidapat sa katubigan sa Jordan sa mga lapalapa sa tiil sa mga sacerdote nga nanagyayong sa arca ni Jehova, ang Ginoo sa tibook nga yuta, ang mga tubig sa Jordan mahabulag, bisan ang mga tubig nga manaug gikan sa ilaya; ug sila mohunong diha sa usa ka pundok. 14Ug nahitabo, nga sa namahawa na ang mga tawo sa ilang mga balongbalong, aron sa pagtabok sa Jordan, ang mga sacerdote nga nanagyayong sa arca sa tugon, sanglit sila nanag-una sa katawohan, 15Ug sa nangabut na sa Jordan ang mga nanagyayong sa arca, ug ang mga tiil sa mga sacerdote nanghituslob na didto sa daplin sa suba (kay ang Jordan moawas man sa tanan niyang mga daplin sa panahon sa ting-ani), 16Nga ang mga tubig nga miabut gikan sa ilaya mihunong ug mialsa sa usa ka pundok, halayo kaayo didto sa Adam, ang lungsod nga anaa tupad sa Sarethan; ug kadtong mga nagapadulong sa dagat sa kapatagan, bisan ang Dagat nga Asin, nahabulag; ug ang mga tawo nanabok laktod ngadto sa Jerico. 17Ug ang mga sacerdote nga nanagyayong sa arca sa tugon ni Jehova, nanagpanindog nga malig-on sa yuta nga mamala sa taliwala sa Jordan; ug ang tibook Israel mingtabok sa yutang mamala, hangtud ang tibook nasud nahurot paglabang sa Jordan.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 JOSHUA COMES TO JORDAN. (
Josh 3:1-
Josh 3:6)
Joshua rose early in the morning--On the day following that on which the spies had returned with their encouraging report. The camp was broken up in "Shittim" (the acacia groves), and removed to the eastern bank of the Jordan. The duration of their stay is indicated (
Josh 3:2), being, according to Hebrew reckoning, only one entire day, including the evening of arrival and the morning of the passage; and such a time would be absolutely necessary for so motley an assemblage of men, women, and children, with all their gear and cattle to make ready for going into an enemy's country.
2 the officers went through the host; And they commanded the people--The instructions given at this time and in this place were different from those described (
Josh 1:11).
3 When ye see the ark . . ., and the priests the Levites bearing it--The usual position of the ark, when at rest, was in the center of the camp; and, during a march, in the middle of the procession. On this occasion it was to occupy the van, and be borne, not by the Kohathite Levites, but the priests, as on all solemn and extraordinary occasions (compare
Num 4:15;
Josh 6:6;
1Kgs 8:3-6).
then ye shall . . . go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it--These instructions refer exclusively to the advance into the river. The distance which the people were to keep in the rear of the ark was nearly a mile. Had they crowded too near the ark, the view would have been intercepted, and this intervening space, therefore, was ordered, that the chest containing the sacred symbols might be distinctly visible to all parts of the camp, and be recognized as their guide in the untrodden way.
5 Joshua said unto the people--rather "had said," for as he speaks of "to-morrow," the address must have been made previous to the day of crossing, and the sanctification was in all probability the same as Moses had commanded before the giving of the law, consisting of an outward cleansing (
Exod 19:10-
Exod 19:15) preparatory to that serious and devout state of mind with which so great a manifestation should be witnessed.
6 Joshua spake unto the priests--This order to the priests would be given privately, and involving as it did an important change in the established order of march, it must be considered as announced in the name and by the authority of God. Moreover, as soon as the priests stepped into the waters of Jordan, they were to stand still. The ark was to accomplish what had been done by the rod of Moses.
7 THE LORD ENCOURAGES JOSHUA. (
Josh 3:7-
Josh 3:8)
the Lord said to Joshua, This day will I . . . magnify thee in the sight of all Israel--Joshua had already received distinguished honors (
Exod 24:13;
Deut 31:7). But a higher token of the divine favor was now to be publicly bestowed on him, and evidence given in the same unmistakable manner that his mission and authority were from God as was that of Moses (
Exod 14:31).
9 JOSHUA ENCOURAGES THE PEOPLE. (
Josh 3:9-
Josh 3:13)
Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord--It seems that the Israelites had no intimation how they were to cross the river till shortly before the event. The premonitory address of Joshua, taken in connection with the miraculous result exactly as he had described it, would tend to increase and confirm their faith in the God of their fathers as not a dull, senseless, inanimate thing like the idols of the nations, but a Being of life, power, and activity to defend them and work for them.
14 THE WATERS OF JORDAN ARE DIVIDED. (
Josh 3:14-
Josh 3:17)
And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, &c.--To understand the scene described we must imagine the band of priests with the ark on their shoulders, standing on the depressed edge of the river, while the mass of the people were at a mile's distance. Suddenly the whole bed of the river was dried up; a spectacle the more extraordinary in that it took place in the time of harvest, corresponding to our April or May--when "the Jordan overfloweth all its banks." The original words may be more properly rendered "fills all its banks." Its channel, snow-fed from Lebanon, was at its greatest height--brimful; a translation which gives the only true description of the state of Jordan in harvest as observed by modern travellers. The river about Jericho is, in ordinary appearance, about fifty or sixty yards in breadth. But as seen in harvest, it is twice as broad; and in ancient times, when the hills on the right and left were much more drenched with rain and snow than since the forests have disappeared, the river must, from a greater accession of water, have been broader still than at harvest-time in the present day.
16 the waters which came down from above--that is, the Sea of Galilee
stood and rose up upon a heap--"in a heap," a firm, compact barrier (
Exod 15:8;
Ps 78:13);
very far--high up the stream;
from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan--near mount Sartabeh, in the northern part of the Ghor (
1Kgs 7:46); that is, a distance of thirty miles from the Israelitish encampment; and
those that came down toward the sea of the desert--the Dead Sea--were cut off (
Ps 114:2-
Ps 114:3). The river was thus dried up as far as the eye could reach. This was a stupendous miracle; Jordan takes its name, "the Descender," from the force of its current, which, after passing the Sea of Galilee, becomes greatly increased as it plunges through twenty-seven "horrible rapids and cascades," besides a great many lesser through a fall of a thousand feet, averaging from four to five miles an hour [LYNCH]. When swollen "in time of harvest," it flows with a vastly accelerated current.
the people passed over right against Jericho--The exact spot is unknown; but it cannot be that fixed by Greek tradition--the pilgrims' bathing-place--both because it is too much to the north, and the eastern banks are there sheer precipices ten or fifteen feet high.
17 the priests . . . and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground--the river about Jericho has a firm pebbly bottom, on which the host might pass, without inconvenience when the water was cleared off.