Joshua 3:1

THE MESSAGE

Joshua was up early and on his way from Shittim with all the People of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camped before crossing over. After three days, leaders went through the camp and gave out orders to the people: "When you see the Covenant-Chest of God , your God, carried by the Levitical priests, start moving. Follow it. Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it, about half a mile—be sure now to keep your distance!—and you'll see clearly the route to take. You've never been on this road before."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Joshua started early the next morning and left the Acacia Grove with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before crossing.

Hebrew Names Version
Yehoshua rose up early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Yarden, he and all the children of Yisra'el; and they lodged there before they passed over.

King James Version
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

Lexham English Bible
Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove. And they came up to the Jordan, he and all the Israelites, and they spent the night there before they crossed over.

English Standard Version
Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

New Century Version
Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia. They traveled to the Jordan River and camped there before crossing it.

New English Translation
Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing the river.

Amplified Bible
Joshua got up early in the morning; then he and all the children of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they spent the night there before they crossed [the river].

New American Standard Bible
Then Joshua got up early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they spent the night there before they crossed.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Ioshua rose very earely, and they remoued from Shittim, and came to Iorden, he, and all the children of Israel, and lodged there, before they went ouer.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they lodged there before they crossed.

Contemporary English Version
Early the next morning, Joshua and the Israelites packed up and left Acacia. They went to the Jordan River and camped there that night.

Complete Jewish Bible
Y'hoshua got up early in the morning, and they left Sheetim and came to the Yarden, he with all the people of Isra'el; they camped there before crossing.

Darby Translation
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

Easy-to-Read Version
Early the next morning, Joshua and all the Israelites got up and left Acacia. They traveled to the Jordan River and camped there before they crossed it.

George Lamsa Translation
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they journeyed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there and did not cross over.

Good News Translation
The next morning Joshua and all the people of Israel got up early, left the camp at Acacia, and went to the Jordan, where they camped while waiting to cross it.

Literal Translation
And Joshua rose up early in the morning. And they pulled up stakes from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel. And they stayed there before they crossed over.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Iosua rose vp early, and they departed from Setim, & came vnto Iordane, he and all the children of Israel, and remayned there all night, afore they wete ouer.

American Standard Version
And Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over.

Bible in Basic English
Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and, moving on from Shittim, he and all the children of Israel came to Jordan and were there for the night before going over.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Iosuah rose early and they remoued fro Sittim, and came to Iordane, he and all the chyldren of Israel: and lodged there before they went ouer.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over.

King James Version (1611)
And Ioshua rose early in the morning, and they remooued from Shittim, and came to Iordan, hee and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed ouer.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and departed from Sattin; and they came as far as Jordan, and lodged there before they crossed over.

English Revised Version
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over.

Berean Standard Bible
Early the next morning Joshua got up and left Acacia Grove with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor Josue roos bi nyyt, and mouede tentis; and thei yeden out of Sechym, and camen to Jordan, he and alle the sones of Israel, and dwelliden there thre daies.

Young's Literal Translation
And Joshua riseth early in the morning, and they journey from Shittim, and come in unto the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodge there before they pass over.

Update Bible Version
And Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

World English Bible
Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over.

New King James Version
Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove [fn] and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over.

New Living Translation
Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia Grove and arrived at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing.

New Life Bible
Joshua got up early in the morning. He and all the people of Israel left Shittim and came to the Jordan. And they stayed there before they crossed.

New Revised Standard
Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites, and they came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing over.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they brake up from The Acacias and came as far as the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, - and they lodged there before they passed over.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Josue rose before daylight, and removed the camp: and they departed from Setim, and came to the Jordan: he, and all the children of Israel, and they abode there for three days.

Revised Standard Version
Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from Shittim, with all the people of Israel; and they came to the Jordan, and lodged there before they passed over.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they lodged there before they crossed.

Contextual Overview

¹Joshua was up early and on his way from Shittim with all the People of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camped before crossing over. After three days, leaders went through the camp and gave out orders to the people: "When you see the Covenant-Chest of God , your God, carried by the Levitical priests, start moving. Follow it. Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it, about half a mile—be sure now to keep your distance!—and you'll see clearly the route to take. You've never been on this road before." ⁵ Then Joshua addressed the people: "Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you." ⁶ Joshua instructed the priests, "Take up the Chest of the Covenant and step out before the people." So they took it up and processed before the people.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

rose early: 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 - Deuteronomy 1:3, to the Jordan, was, according to Josephus, about sixty stadia; that is, between seven and eight English miles. Genesis 22:3, Psalms 119:60, Jeremiah 7:13, Jeremiah 25:3, Jeremiah 26:5, Mark 1:35

Shittim: Joshua 2:1, Numbers 25:1, Micah 6:5

Jordan: 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.

Reciprocal: Joshua 6:12 - Joshua rose Joshua 7:16 - rose up Joshua 8:10 - rose up Judges 7:1 - rose up Judges 20:19 - rose up Proverbs 31:15 - riseth

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

Isaiah 27:1
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.

Matthew 10:16
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.

2 Corinthians 11:14
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

1 Peter 3:7
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Joshua rose early in the morning,.... The morning after the spies had returned and made their report; which, as Kimchi rightly observes, was the ninth of Nisan; for on the morrow, which was the tenth, the people passed over Jordan, see Joshua 3:5. Moses, according to the Jewish writers, died on the seventh of Adar or February; the thirty days of his mourning ended the seventh of Nisan or March; two days before they were ended the spies were sent, who returned on the eighth day of the month; and the morning following Joshua rose early, which shows his readiness and alacrity to proceed in the expedition he was directed and encouraged to:

and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan; from Shittim in the plains of Moab, to the river Jordan:

he and all the children of Israel; he as their general, and they an army of six hundred thousand fighting men under him, besides women and children, and others that came along with them:

and lodged there before they passed over; lay there encamped a night before they passed over the river Jordan.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

“The acacia groves” (Exodus 25:5 note) of Shittim on both sides of Jordan line the upper terraces of the valley (compare 2 Kings 6:4). They would be in this part at some six miles distance from the river itself.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER III

The Israelitish camp removes frown Shittim to Jordan, 1.

The officers inform them how they are to pass the river, and the

distance they are to keep from the ark, 2 4.

Joshua directs the people, 5, 6;

and the Lord gives directions to Joshua, 7, 8.

He delivers the Lord's message to the people, and foretells the

miraculous passage and division of Jordan, 9-13.

The priests, bearing the ark, enter the river, and immediately

the waters are cut off, and the priests stand on dry ground,

in the bed of the river, till all the camp passes over, 14-17.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse Joshua 3:1. Joshua rose early — Archbishop Usher supposes that this was upon Wednesday, the 28th of April, A. M. 2553, the fortieth year after the exodus from Egypt. From Shittim, where they had lately been encamped, to Jordan, was about sixty stadia, according to Josephus; that is, about eight English miles.