Paragraph 4:10–11

This paragraph is a summary about the crossing of the Jordan River. The priests obeyed God’s command. They stood in the middle of the river while the rest of the Israelites crossed it. Finally, the priests with the ark of the covenant finished crossing the river.

4:10a

Now: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now is the Hebrew connector between sentences in a narrative. It may be more natural in some languages to leave it out. For example:

The priests who bore the ark remained standing (New Revised Standard Version)

remained standing in the middle of the Jordan: The phrase remained standing in the middle of the Jordan indicates that the priests who were carrying the ark continued to stand in the middle of the Jordan River. The river stopped flowing, and they stood on the dry riverbed. It may be helpful to make this explicit in some languages. For example, you could say:

The priests who carried the ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan River

4:10b

until the people had completed everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell them: The clause until the people had completed everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell them indicates that the people did everything that Yahweh commanded them to do. Yahweh gave his command to Joshua. Joshua repeated the command to the Israelites, and the Israelites obeyed the command.

4:10c

just as Moses had directed Joshua: The phrase just as Moses had directed Joshua indicates that Yahweh first gave these commands to Moses before Moses died. Moses then told Joshua what Yahweh wanted the Israelites to do when they reached the Jordan.

4:10d

The people hurried across: The clause The people hurried across means that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River as quickly as they could. They hurried across it.

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