Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Then Joshua got up early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from ^(A)Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they spent the night there before they crossed. ² Then ^(B)at the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ^(C)ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. ⁴ However, there shall be a distance between you and it of about ^[a]two thousand cubits by measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵ Then Joshua said to the people, “^(D)Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do miracles among you.” ⁶ And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.

⁷ Now the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(E)exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. ⁸ So you shall command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” ⁹ Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ And Joshua said, “By this you will know that ^(F)the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly ^(G)drive out from you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. ¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(H)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan. ¹² Now then, ^(I)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. ¹³ And it will come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, that is, the waters which are ^[b]flowing down from above; and they will ^(J)stand in one heap.”

¹⁴ So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying ^(K)the ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and when those who were carrying the ark came up to the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark ^[c]stepped down into the edge of the water (for the ^(L)Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), ¹⁶ then ^(M)the waters which were ^[d]flowing down from above stood and rose up in ^(N)one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were ^[e]flowing down toward the sea of the ^(O)Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm ^(P)on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

Memorial Stones from the Jordan

4 Now when the entire nation had finished crossing the ^(Q)Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “^(R)Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firmly, and carry them over with you and lay them down in ^(S)the encampment where you will spend the night.’” ⁴ So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them, “^[f]Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ^6 [g]This shall be a sign among you; ^(T)when your children ask ^[h]later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall say to them, ‘That the ^(U)waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a ^(V)memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

⁸ So the sons of Israel did exactly as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as the Lord spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to ^(W)the encampment and put them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve ^(X)stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day. ¹⁰ For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hurried and crossed; ¹¹ and when all the people had finished crossing, then the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed in front of the people. ^12 (Y)The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle formation before the sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them; ¹³ about forty thousand equipped for war, crossed for battle before the Lord to the desert plains of Jericho.

^14 (Z)On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, so that they ^[i]revered him, just as they had ^[j]revered Moses all the days of his life.

¹⁵ Now the Lord said to ^[k]Joshua, ¹⁶ “Command the priests who carry ^(AA)the ark of the testimony that they come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁸ It came about when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were ^[l]lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks as before.

¹⁹ Now the people came up from the Jordan on the ^(AB)tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal, on the eastern edge of Jericho. ²⁰ As for ^[m](AC)those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set them up ^(AD)at Gilgal. ²¹ And he said to the sons of ^[n]Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²² then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on ^(AE)dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the ^[o]Red Sea, ^(AF)which He dried up before us until we had crossed; ²⁴ so that ^(AG)all the peoples of the earth may know that the ^(AH)hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may ^[p](AI)fear the Lord your God ^[q]forever.”

Parable of the Guests

⁷ Now He began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how ^(A)they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ⁸ “Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, ^(B)do not ^[a]take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, ⁹ and the one who invited you ^[b]both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then ^(C)in disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place. ¹⁰ But whenever you are invited, go and ^[c]take the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, ^(D)move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are ^[d]dining at the table with you. ^11 (E)For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹² Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you to a meal in return, and that will be your ^[e]repayment. ¹³ But whenever you give a ^[f]banquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, and people who are blind; ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they ^[g]do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at ^(F)the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “^(G)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ But He said to him, “^(H)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; ^[h]please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ^[i]please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘^(I)I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ ²² And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”

Discipleship Tested

²⁵ Now ^[j]large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “^(J)If anyone comes to Me and does not ^[k]hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not ^(K)carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build, and was not able to finish!’ ³¹ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and ^(L)consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace. ³³ So then, none of you can be My disciple who ^(M)does not ^[l]give up all his own possessions.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but ^(N)if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be ^[m]seasoned? ³⁵ It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. ^(O)The one who has ears to hear, ^[n]let him hear.”

God Implored to Rescue His People from Their Calamities.

For the music director; set to ^[a]El Shoshannim; ^[b]Eduth. A Psalm of Asaph.