Joshua 3:15

When the ones carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the surface ¹  of the water – (the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest time) ²  –

Now the Jordan is in flood all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,

and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest),

Now it was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge,

When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest),

And when those who took up the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who took up the ark were touching the edge of the water (for the waters of Jordan are overflowing all through the time of the grain-cutting),

Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water,

and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest),

When the ones carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the surface ¹  of the water – (the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest time) ²  –

¹ tn Heb “dipped into the edge.”

² tn Heb “and the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest.”

sn The lengthy description of the priests’ arrival at the Jordan and the parenthetical reminder that the Jordan was at flood stage delay the climax of the story and add to its dramatic buildup.