Joshua 4:11-13

Contemporary English Version

The People of Israel Set Up Camp at Gilgal

^10-13The army got ready for battle and crossed the Jordan with everyone else. They marched quickly past the sacred chest^[a] and into the desert near Jericho. Forty thousand soldiers from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh^[b] led the way, as Moses had ordered.^[c]

The priests stayed right where they were until the people had followed the orders that the Lord had given Moses and Joshua. Then they watched as the priests carried the chest the rest of the way across.

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Footnotes

4.10-13 the sacred chest: The Hebrew text has “the Lord.” The army was marching past the sacred chest, which was a symbol of God's throne on earth (see 1 Samuel 4.4 and Exodus 25.10-22; 37.1-9).
4.10-13 Forty thousand soldiers from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh: Or “There were forty thousand soldiers altogether, and those from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh.”
4.10-13 Moses … ordered: See Numbers 32.16-32; Joshua 1.12-16.