¹tn Heb “And Joshua arose early in the morning and he and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan.”
²tn The words “the river,” though not in the Hebrew text, have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
³sn The ark of the covenant refers to the wooden chest that symbolized God’s presence among his covenant people.
⁴tn Heb “set out from your place.”
⁵tn Or “march.”
⁶tn Heb “But there should be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits in measurement.”
sn The precise distance is uncertain, but the measurement designated hM*a^ (“cubit”) was probably equivalent to approximately eighteen inches (one and one-half feet, or 45 cm) in length.
⁷tn Heb “do not approach it.”
⁸tn Heb “know.”
⁹tn Or more literally, “to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel.”
¹⁰tn Heb “the edge of the waters of the Jordan.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.
¹¹tn Heb “stand in the Jordan.” Here the repetition of the word “Jordan” would be redundant according to contemporary English style, so it was not included in the translation.
¹²tn Heb “said.”
¹³tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.”
¹⁴tn Heb “the soles of the feet.”
¹⁵tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.”
¹⁶tn Or “rest in.”
¹⁷tn Heb “the waters of the Jordan, the waters descending from above, will be cut off so that they will stand in one pile.”
¹⁸tn The verb, though not in the Hebrew, is added for clarification.
¹⁹tn Heb “dipped into the edge.”
²⁰tn Heb “and the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest.”
sn The lengthy description of the priests’ arrival at the Jordan and the parenthetical reminder that the Jordan was at flood stage delay the climax of the story and add to its dramatic buildup.
²¹tn Heb “the waters descending from above stood still.”
²²tn Heb “they stood in one pile very far away.”
²³tn Heb “the [waters] descending toward the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) were completely cut off.”
sn The Salt Sea is an ancient name for the Dead Sea.
²⁴map For the location of Jericho see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
²⁵tn Heb “and all Israel was crossing over on dry ground until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”