Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors

¹¹And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. ¹²Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that ye also will deal kindly with my father's house—and give me a true token—¹³and save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.' ¹⁴And the men said unto her: 'Our life for yours, if ye tell not this our business; and it shall be, when the Lord giveth us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.' ¹⁵Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was upon the side of the wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. ¹⁶And she said unto them: 'Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers light upon you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned; and afterward may ye go your way.' ¹⁷And the men said unto her: 'We will be guiltless of this thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. ¹⁸Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by; and thou shalt gather unto thee into the house thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household. ¹⁹And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless; and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. ²⁰But if thou utter this our business, then we will be guiltless of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.' ²¹And she said: 'According unto your words, so be it.' And she sent them away, and they departed; and she bound the scarlet line in the window. ²²And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned; and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. ²³Then the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had befallen them. ²⁴And they said unto Joshua: 'Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land do melt away before us.'

      3And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over. ²And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp; ³and they commanded the people, saying: 'When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. ⁴Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure; come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.'

      ⁵And Joshua said unto the people: 'Sanctify yourselves; for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' ⁶And Joshua spoke unto the priests, saying: 'Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on before the people.' And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

      ⁷And the Lord said unto Joshua: 'This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. ⁸And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying: When ye are come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, ye shall stand still in the Jordan.'

      ⁹And Joshua said unto the children of Israel: 'Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God.' ¹⁰And Joshua said: 'Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite. ¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth on before you over the Jordan. ¹²Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. ¹³And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap.' ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, the priests that bore the ark of the covenant being before the people; ¹⁵and when they that bore the ark were come unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark were dipped in the brink of the water—for the Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest—¹⁶that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off from Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off; and the people passed over right against Jericho. ¹⁷And the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, while all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation were passed clean over the Jordan.

      4And it came to pass, when all the nation were clean passed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, saying: ²'Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, ³and command ye them, saying: Take you hence out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood, twelve stones made ready, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging-place, where ye shall lodge this night.'

      ⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man; ⁵and Joshua said unto them: 'Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; ⁶that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying: What mean ye by these stones? ⁷then ye shall say unto them: Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off; and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.' ⁸And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord spoke unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. ⁹Joshua also set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests that bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there unto this day. ¹⁰And the priests that bore the ark stood in the midst of the 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 hastened and passed over. ¹¹And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed on, and the priests, before the people. ¹²And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed on armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke unto them; ¹³about forty thousand ready armed for war passed on in the presence of the Lord unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.

      ¹⁴On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

      ¹⁵And the Lord spoke unto Joshua, saying: ¹⁶'Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan.' ¹⁷Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying: 'Come ye up out of the Jordan.' ¹⁸And it came to pass, as the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up out of the midst of the Jordan, as soon as the soles of the priests' feet were drawn up unto the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned unto their place, and went over all its banks, as aforetime. ¹⁹And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹And he spoke unto the children of Israel, saying: 'When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying: What mean these stones? ²²then ye shall let your children know, saying: Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. ²³For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up from before us, until we were passed