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Joshua 4:10

in Joshua 4

Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until the people had completed everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell them, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried across,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

For the priests that bare the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan, until everything was finished that Jehovah commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.

KJV

For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.

This verse in Joshua 4

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And the people hasted and passed over - How very natural is this circumstance! The people seeing the waters divided, and Jordan running back, might be apprehensive that it would soon resume its wonted course; and this would naturally lead them to hasten to get over, with as much speed as possible. The circumstance itself thus marked is a proof that the relater was an eyewitness of this miraculous passage.

This site's exposition

priests which bare the ark

on Joshua 4:10-11

The priests hold the middle of the channel until every word is finished, and the people cross at speed. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the haste as weakness set beside the priests' steadiness, while Clarke reads it as what any man would do walking a riverbed with the water piled upstream, and takes the detail as the mark of an eyewitness. Verse 10 says the orders came according to all that Moses commanded Joshua, and the charge Moses gave him at Deuteronomy 3:28 and 31:7 carries none of these details, so the writer knows of instruction Scripture does not preserve in full.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The unfaltering confidence of the priests contrasts strikingly with the conduct of the people, who "hasted and passed over." Their faith, like that of many of God's people, was, through the weakness of nature, blended with fears.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Until the the completion of everything. This is as we learn in Masches Sotah, 34a: While they were standing in the Jordan, Yehoshua said to them, “You must know the purpose for which you are crossing the Jordan.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 4:10:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And it was when all the people had finished crossing and the Ark crossed. The Ark did not cross as the others did, but in the manner explained below: 3 Verse.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 4:11:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

27 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהַכֹּהֲנִ֞יםand the priests

    vehakohanimH3548750 times

  • נֹשְׂאֵ֣י[the] bearers of

    noseeiH5375656 times

  • הָאָר֗וֹןthe ark

    haaronH727202 times

  • עֹמְדִים֮[were] standing

    ʾomedimH5975521 times

  • בְּת֣וֹךְin [the] middle of

    betokhH8432418 times

  • הַיַּרְדֵּן֒the Jordan

    haiyardenH3383182 times

  • עַ֣דuntil

    ʾadH57041261 times

  • תֹּ֣םwas finished

    tomH855263 times

  • כָּֽל־every

    kal-H36055413 times

  • הַ֠דָּבָר<the> thing

    hadavorH16971440 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H8345497 times

  • צִוָּ֨הhe had commanded

    tzivahH6680494 times

  • יְהוָ֤הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֙עַ֙Joshua

    yehoshua'H3091218 times

  • לְדַבֵּ֣רto speak

    ledaberH16961141 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הָעָ֔םthe people

    haamH59711873 times

  • כְּכֹ֛לaccording to all

    kekholH36055413 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־that

    ʾasher-H8345497 times

  • צִוָּ֥הhe had commanded

    tzivahH6680494 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֖הMoses

    moshehH4872765 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֑עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091218 times

  • וַיְמַהֲר֥וּand they hurried

    vaymaharuH411668 times

  • הָעָ֖םthe people

    haamH59711873 times

  • וַֽיַּעֲבֹֽרוּ׃and they passed over

    vaiyaavoruH5674556 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Isaiah 28:16

    So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 118:22

      The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

    • Acts 4:11–12

      This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’

    • 1 Peter 2:6–8

      For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

    • Luke 20:17–18

      But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

    • Romans 9:33

      as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 9:10

    Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

    it leads to

    • Colossians 3:23

      Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men,

    • Ephesians 5:16

      redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

  • Through

    2 Corinthians 6:2

    For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 49:8

      This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be…

About Joshua

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.