“Command the priests who carry the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan.”
- KJV Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.
- NKJV “Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.”
- NASB “Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony that they come up from the Jordan.”
- NLT “Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to come up out of the riverbed.”
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
God commanded the priests carrying the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan. The ark, symbol of God's presence, led Israel through the riverbed.
Overview
The ark contained the testimony (the tablets of the law) and represented Yahweh's throne among His people. Having stood in the riverbed while Israel crossed, the priests are now told to come up so the waters can return. God's presence both opened the way and guarded the people until all had safely passed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Exod 25:16–22And place inside the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.
- Josh 3:3–6and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you are to set out from your positions and follow it.
- Rev 11:19Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.
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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 4:16 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
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