And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you.”
- BSB Then Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
- NKJV And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
- NASB Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do miracles among you.”
- NLT Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joshua commands the people to consecrate themselves, for the next day God will do wonders among them. Encounter with God's mighty acts calls for holiness.
Overview
To 'sanctify' or consecrate themselves meant ritual and moral preparation to meet the holy God (cf. Exodus 19:10-15). The promise that Yahweh 'will do wonders' builds anticipation for the miraculous crossing. The verse links experiencing God's power with a heart and life set apart for Him, a principle that endures for all who would witness His work.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 20:7Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
- Josh 7:13Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
- 1 Sam 16:5And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
- Joel 2:16Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
- John 17:19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
- Exod 19:10–15And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
- Lev 10:3Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
- Ps 86:10For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.
- Job 1:5And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
- Josh 3:13And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
- Josh 3:15And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)
- Ps 114:1–7When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
- Num 11:8And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 3:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.