What Does Joshua 3:13 Mean?
And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who lift the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, settle in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand as a single heap.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it shall come to pass, as soon as 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 Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.THE KEY
The river whose name carries descent is cut off at the bearers’ touch and stands as a heap instead of disappearing.
THE MEANING
You meet the crossing while the waters are still descending: the bearers’ soles settle into them, and the flow is cut off. The water does not vanish; it stands gathered as one heap, so the way opens through a changed state of the obstacle.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a way through begins only after the obstacle disappears: here the water remains, but its motion is interrupted.
THE ROOT
הַיֹּרְדִים
hayyordim
GROWS FROM
ירד
to descend, go down
“come down” in this verse is hayyordim. The words for the Jordan and for the waters coming down echo ירד (yarad, to descend). The river’s defining movement is named twice, then interrupted: what descends now stands in a heap.
ALSO GROWS
Yarden: Jordan
יַרְדֵּן
The river’s name carries the same descent-root as the waters flowing from above.
yeridah: descent
יְרִידָה
This noun keeps the root’s downward movement visible in the verse’s repeated description of the water.
יִכָּרֵתוּן
yikkaretun
GROWS FROM
כרת
to cut, sever, cut off
“cut off” in this verse is yikkaretun. The verb says the waters are severed from the flow coming down from above. This is a decisive break in the river’s continuity; the water remains, but its descent is cut.
ALSO GROWS
nikhrat: was severed or cut off
נִכְרַת
This form makes the separation explicit: the river’s water is cut away from its continuing source.
karat berit: make a covenant
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same root appears in the phrase for making a covenant, where the language of cutting marks a decisive, binding act.
כְּנוֹחַ
kənoaḥ
GROWS FROM
נוח
to settle, rest, come to rest
“settle” in this verse is kənoaḥ. The clause ties the water’s turning point to the soles settling into it. The root carries the sense of settling, so the feet mark the moment when the descending scene changes state.
ALSO GROWS
menuchah: rest, resting place
מְנוּחָה
It shows the root’s sense of settling into a state of rest, echoing the feet coming to rest in the water.
Noach: rest
נֹחַ
The name carries the same root association with rest that shapes the moment of contact in this verse.
THE PATTERN
A way through water opens when its flow is held back while the water itself remains.
And the children of Israel came into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them, on their right hand and on their left.By trust they stepped across the Red Sea as over dry land, which the Egyptians, making the attempt, were swallowed down.THE THREAD
Then you shall answer them, that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be a remembrance for the children of Israel for the ages.The same כרת (karat, cut off) describes the Jordan’s interruption again, now tied explicitly to the ark’s passage. The stones make that cut memorable after the crossing, preserving the moment when the river’s flow ceased.
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