Igitur Josue de nocte consurgens movit castra: egredientesque de Setim, venerunt ad Jordanem ipse et omnes filii Israël, et morati sunt ibi tres dies.

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.

When the morrow dawned, Josue and the men of Israel moved camp, from Setim to the banks of the Jordan. Here they waited three days,

Quibus evolutis transierunt præcones per castrorum medium,

After which, the heralds went through the midst of the camp,

and then the heralds went out through the midst of the camp,

et clamare cœperunt: Quando videritis arcam fœderis Domini Dei vestri, et sacerdotes stirpis Leviticæ portantes eam, vos quoque consurgite, et sequimini præcedentes:

And began to proclaim: When you shall see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests of the race of Levi carrying it, rise you up also, and follow them as they go before:

and made this proclamation: When you see the priests of Levi’s race on the march, carrying the ark of the Lord your God, you yourselves must follow behind them,

sitque inter vos et arcam spatium cubitorum duum millium: ut procul videre possitis, et nosse per quam viam ingrediamini: quia prius non ambulastis per eam: et cavete ne appropinquetis ad arcam.

And let there be between you and the ark the space of two thousand cubits: that you may see it afar off, and know which way you must go: for you have not gone this way before: and take care you come not near the ark.

keeping it in distant view; so you shall know what path to take, a path you have not trodden before. But leave a space of two thousand cubits between the ark and yourselves; not for you the neighbourhood of the ark.

Dixitque Josue ad populum: Sanctificamini: cras enim faciet Dominus inter vos mirabilia.

And Josue said to the people: Be ye sanctified: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

And Josue bade the people keep themselves free from defilement; the Lord was preparing to do a miracle next day in their midst.

Et ait ad sacerdotes: Tollite arcam fœderis, et præcedite populum. Qui jussa complentes, tulerunt, et ambulaverunt ante eos.

And he said to the priests: Take up the ark of the covenant, and go before the people. And they obeyed his commands, and took it up and walked before them.

Then he bade the priests take up the ark that bore record of the covenant, and march on; and they, at his bidding, took it up and began leading the way.

Dixitque Dominus ad Josue: Hodie incipiam exaltare te coram omni Israël: ut sciant quod sicut cum Moyse fui, ita et tecum sim.

And the Lord said to Josue: This day will I begin to exalt thee before Israel: that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I am with thee also.

This day, the Lord said to Josue, I mean to win thee renown for all Israel to see; they shall learn that he who went with Moses goes now with thee.

Tu autem præcipe sacerdotibus, qui portant arcam fœderis, et dic eis: Cum ingressi fueritis partem aquæ Jordanis, state in ea.

And do thou command the priests that carry the ark of the covenant, and say to them: When you shall have entered into part of the water of the Jordan, stand in it.

Bid the priests who are bearing the ark wade out a little into the waters of Jordan, and halt there.

Dixitque Josue ad filios Israël: Accedite huc, et audite verbum Domini Dei vestri.

And Josue said to the children of Israel: Come hither and hear the word of the Lord your God.

So Josue said to the Israelites, Come close, and listen to the message the Lord your God sends you.

Et rursum: In hoc, inquit, scietis quod Dominus Deus vivens in medio vestri est, et disperdet in conspectu vestro Chananæum et Hethæum, Hevæum et Pherezæum, Gergesæum quoque et Jebusæum, et Amorrhæum.

And again he said: By this you shall know that the Lord the living God 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.

And then, Here is proof that the living presence of the Lord God is among you; proof that he means to dispossess Chanaanite and Hethite, Hevite and Pherezite, Gergesite and Jebusite and Amorrhite at your coming.

Ecce arca fœderis Domini omnis terræ antecedet vos per Jordanem.

Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you into the Jordan.

Here is the ark ready to cross the Jordan at your head, that ark which bears record of your covenant with the Lord of all the earth;

Parate duodecim viros de tribubus Israël, singulos per singulas tribus.

Prepare ye twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every tribe.

you must choose out twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel, to witness it.

Et cum posuerint vestigia pedum suorum sacerdotes qui portant arcam Domini Dei universæ terræ in aquis Jordanis, aquæ quæ inferiores sunt, decurrent atque deficient: quæ autem desuper veniunt, in una mole consistent.

And when the priests, that carry the ark of the Lord the God 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.

And when the priests set foot in the waters of Jordan, bearing his ark who is Lord of the whole earth, the stream below them will pass on and be lost to sight; the stream above will check its flow, heaped up in a single mass of water.

Igitur egressus est populus de tabernaculis suis, ut transiret Jordanem: et sacerdotes, qui portabant arcam fœderis, pergebant ante eum.

So the people went out of their tents, to pass over the Jordan: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant, went on before them.

So the people left their encampment to go across Jordan, the priests who carried the ark marching at their head.

Ingressisque eis Jordanem, et pedibus eorum in parte aquæ tinctis (Jordanis autem ripas alvei sui tempore messis impleverat),

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,)

And when these began wading out, as soon as their feet were under water (it was harvest time, and the Jordan had risen to the full height of its banks),

steterunt aquæ descendentes in loco uno, et ad instar montis intumescentes apparebant procul, ab urbe quæ vocatur Adom usque ad locum Sarthan: quæ autem inferiores erant, in mare Solitudinis (quod nunc vocatur Mortuum) descenderunt, usquequo omnino deficerent.

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.

the stream above them halted in its course. Far up, all the way from the city of Adom to the place called Sarthan, these upper waters looked like a swelling mound; and the waters below flowed on into the Desert Sea, that is now called the Dead Sea, till they disappeared altogether.

Populus autem incedebat contra Jericho: et sacerdotes qui portabant arcam fœderis Domini, stabant super siccam humum in medio Jordanis accincti, omnisque populus per arentem alveum transibat.

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 passed over through the channel that was dried up.

And so the people marched on to the assault of Jericho; the priests, carrying the Lord’s ark, stood there with loins girt in the middle of the Jordan on dry ground, while the whole people went past over the dry bed of the stream.