3:10. And again he said: By this you shall know, that the Lord, the living G.o.d, is in the midst of you, and that he shall destroy, before your sight, the Chanaanite and the Hethite, the Hevite and the Pherezite, the Gergesite also, and the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite.
3:11. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you into the Jordan.
3:12. Prepare ye twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every tribe.
3:13. And when the priests, that carry the ark of the Lord the G.o.d of the whole earth, shall set the soles of their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the waters that are beneath shall run down and go off: and those that come from above, shall stand together upon a heap.
3:14. So the people went out of their tents, to pa.s.s over the Jordan: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant, went on before them.
3:15. And as soon as they came into the Jordan, and their feet were dipped in part of the water, (now the Jordan, it being harvest time, had filled the banks of its channel,)
3:16. The waters that came down from above stood in one place, and swelling up like a mountain, were seen afar off, from the city that is called Adom, to the place of Sarthan: but those that were beneath, ran down into the sea of the wilderness, (which now is called the Dead Sea) until they wholly failed.
3:17. And the people marched over against Jericho: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood girded upon the dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people pa.s.sed over, through the channel that was dried up.
Josue Chapter 4
Twelve stones are taken out of the river to be set up for a monument of the miracle; and other twelve are placed in the midst of the river.
4:1. And when they were pa.s.sed over, the Lord said to Josue:
4:2. Choose twelve men, one of every tribe:
4:3. And command them to take out of the midst of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests stood, twelve very hard stones, which you shall set in the place of the camp, where you shall pitch your tents this night.
4:4. And Josue called twelve men, whom he had chosen out of the children of Israel, one out of every tribe,
4:5. And he said to them: Go before the ark of the Lord your G.o.d to the midst of the Jordan, and carry from thence every man a stone on your shoulders, according to the number of the children of Israel,
4:6. That it may be a sign among you: and when your children shall ask you tomorrow, saying: What means these stones?
4:7. You shall answer them: The waters of the Jordan ran off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it pa.s.sed over the same: therefore were these stones set for a monument of the children of Israel forever.
4:8. The children of Israel therefore did as Josue commanded them, carrying out of the channel of the Jordan twelve stones, as the Lord had commanded him according to the number of the children of Israel unto the place wherein they camped, and there they set them.
4:9. And Josue put other twelve stones in the midst of the channel of the Jordan, where the priests stood that carried the ark of the covenant: and they are there until this present day.
4:10. Now the priests that carried the ark, stood in the midst of the Jordan, till all things were accomplished, which the Lord had commanded Josue to speak to the people, and Moses had said to him. And the people made haste, and pa.s.sed over.
4:11. And when they had all pa.s.sed over, the ark also of the Lord pa.s.sed over, and the priests went before the people.
4:12. The children of Ruben also, and Gad, and half the tribe of Mana.s.ses, went armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had commanded them.
4:13. And forty thousand fighting men by their troops and bands, marched through the plains and fields of the city of Jericho.
4:14. In that day the Lord magnified Josue in the sight of all Israel, that they should fear him, as they had feared Moses, while he lived.
4:15. And he said to him:
4:16. Command the priests, that carry the ark of the covenant, to come up out of the Jordan.
4:17. And he commanded them, saying: Come ye up out of the Jordan.
4:18. And when they that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, were come up, and began to tread on the dry ground, the waters returned into their channel, and ran as they were wont before.
4:19. And the people came up out of the Jordan, the tenth day of the first month, and camped in Galgal, over against the east side of the city of Jericho.
4:20. And the twelve stones, which they had taken out of the channel of the Jordan, Josue pitched in Galgal,
4:21. And said to the children of Israel: When your children shall ask their fathers tomorrow, and shall say to them: What mean these stones?
4:22. You shall teach them, and say: Israel pa.s.sed over this Jordan through the dry channel,
4:23. The Lord your G.o.d drying up the waters thereof in your sight, until you pa.s.sed over:
4:24. As he had done before in the Red Sea, which he dried up till we pa.s.sed through:
4:25. That all the people of the earth may learn the most mighty hand of the Lord, that you also may fear the Lord your G.o.d for ever.
Josue Chapter 5
The people are circ.u.mcised: they keep the pasch. The manna ceaseth. An angel appeareth to Josue.
5:1. Now when all the kings of the Amorrhites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan, westward, and all the kings of Chanaan, who possessed the places near the great sea, had heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the children of Israel, till they pa.s.sed over, their heart failed them, and there remained no spirit in them, fearing the coming in of the children of Israel.
5:2. At that time the Lord said to Josue: Make thee knives of stone, and circ.u.mcise the second time the children of Israel.
The second time... Not that such as had been circ.u.mcised before were to be circ.u.mcised again; but that they were now to renew, and take up again the practice of circ.u.mcision; which had been omitted during their forty years" sojourning in the wilderness; by reason of their being always uncertain when they should be obliged to march.
5:3. He did what the Lord had commanded, and he circ.u.mcised the children of Israel in the hill of the foreskins.
5:4. Now this is the cause of the second circ.u.mcision: All the people that came out of Egypt that were males, all the men fit for war, died in the desert, during the time of the long going about in the way:
5:6. Now these were all circ.u.mcised. But the people that were born in the desert,
5:6. During the forty years of the journey in the wide wilderness, were uncirc.u.mcised: till all they were consumed that had not heard the voice of the Lord, and to whom he had sworn before, that he would not shew them the land flowing with milk and honey.
5:7. The children of these succeeded in the place of their fathers, and were circ.u.mcised by Josue: for they were uncirc.u.mcised even as they were born, and no one had circ.u.mcised them in the way.
5:8. Now after they were all circ.u.mcised, they remained in the same place of the camp, until they were healed.
5:9. And the Lord said to Josue: This day have I taken away from you the reproach of Egypt. And the name of that place was called Galgal, until this present day.
5:10. And the children of Israel abode in Galgal, and they kept the phase, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in the plains of Jericho:
5:11. And they ate on the next day unleavened bread of the corn of the land, and frumenty of the same year.
5:12. And the manna ceased after they ate of the corn of the land, neither did the children of Israel use that food any more, but they ate of the corn of the present year of the land of Chanaan.
5:13. And when Josue was in the field of the city of Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and saw a man standing over against him, holding a drawn sword, and he went to him, and said: Art thou one of ours, or of our adversaries?