Joshua 3:9-17

9Joshua said to the Israelites, ‘Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.

10The God who lives for ever is with you. He will certainly chase the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites out from this land. Then you will have their land. The Lord will show you that he will certainly do this.

11Look now! The Covenant Box of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan River in front of you.

12Now choose 12 men, one from each tribe of Israel's family.

13Watch the priests who are carrying the Covenant Box. As soon as their feet touch the water of the river, you will see that the water stops running. It will rise up like a wall.’

14So the Israelite people prepared to leave their tents. The priests carried the Covenant Box towards the Jordan River. The people followed them.

15It was the time of the harvest and there was a lot of water coming down the river. But when the priests reached the shore of the river with the Covenant Box and their feet touched the water,

16the water stopped. It stopped a long way up the river, at a town called Adam. That is near Zarethan. The water going down to the Salt Sea stopped completely. So the people crossed the river near Jericho city.

17The priests stood in the middle of the river on dry ground, with the Lord's Covenant Box. While they stood there, all the Israelite people walked across the river on dry ground. In that way, the whole nation arrived on the other side of the river.