⁸ Tell the priests^(A) who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”

¹⁷ The priests^(A) who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground,^(B) while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.^(C)

¹⁵ “After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move,^(A) only then are the Kohathites^(B) to come and do the carrying.^(C) But they must not touch the holy things^(D) or they will die.^(E) The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting.

Public Reading of the Law

⁹ So Moses wrote^(A) down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried^(B) the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests^(A) took up the ark,