After three days' abode by the banks of Jordan, 3. the Priests with the Ark of God entering first into the river, 15. the upper part miraculously standeth and swelleth, the lower running away, they go into the middle channel, and there stay, whiles all the people pass over dry foot.After three dayes abode by the bankes of Iordan, 3. the Priestes with the Arke of God entering first into the riuer, 15. the vpper part miraculously standeth and swelleth, the lower running away, they goe into the middle chanel, and there stay, whiles al the people passe ouer drye foote.
Josue therefore rising up in the night, moved on, decamped: set the camp forward, not took it away · Vulgate: movit castra: moved the camp the camp: and departing from Setim, they came to Jordan, he, and all the children of Israel, and abode there for three days.IOSVE therfore rysing vp in the night, remoued the campe : and departing from Setim, they came to Iordan, he, and al the children of Israel, and abode there for three dayes.Igitur Josue de nocte consurgens movit castra : egredientesque de Setim, venerunt ad Jordanem ipse et omnes filii Israël, et morati sunt ibi tres dies.
2Which being passed, the heralds went through the midst of the camp,Which being passed, the heraldes went through the middes of the campe,Quibus evolutis transierunt præcones per castrorum medium,
3and began to proclaim: when you shall see the ark of covenant of our Lord your God, and the priests of the Levitical lineage, family line: the Levite race · Vulgate: stirpis: stock, lineage carrying it, rise you also, and follow them going before:and beganne to proclaime : when you shal see the arke of couenant of our Lord your God, and the priestes of the Leuitical stocke carying it, ryse you also, and folow them going before :et clamare cœperunt : Quando videritis arcam fœderis Domini Dei vestri, et sacerdotes stirpis Leviticæ portantes eam, vos quoque consurgite, et sequimini præcedentes :
4and let there be between you and the ark the space of two thousand cubits: that you may see it afar off, and know which way you may go: because you have not walked by it before: and beware you approach not to the ark.and let there be betwen you and the arke the space of two thousand cubites : that you may see it a farre of, and know which way you may goe : because you haue not walked by it before : and beware you approch not to the arke.sitque inter vos et arcam spatium cubitorum duum millium : ut procul videre possitis, et nosse per quam viam ingrediamini : quia prius non ambulastis per eam : et cavete ne appropinquetis ad arcam.
5And Josue said to the people: Be sanctified: for tomorrow our Lord will do among you marvelous things.And Iosue said to the people : Be sanctified : for to morow our Lord wil doe among you meruelous thinges.Dixitque Josue ad populum : Sanctificamini : cras enim faciet Dominus inter vos mirabilia.
6And he said to the priests: Take up the ark of the covenant, and go before the people. Who fulfilling his commandment, took it, and walked before them.And he said to the priestes : Take vp the arke of the couenant, & goe before the people. Who fulfilling his commandement, tooke it, and walked before them.Et ait ad sacerdotes : Tollite arcam fœderis, et præcedite populum. Qui jussa complentes, tulerunt, et ambulaverunt ante eos.
7And our Lord said to Josue: This day will I begin to exalt thee before all Israel: that they may know as I was with Moyses, so am I with thee also.And our Lord said to Iosue : This day wil I beginne to exalt thee before al Israel : that they may know as I was with Moyses, so am I with thee also.Dixitque Dominus ad Josue : Hodie incipiam exaltare te coram omni Israël : ut sciant quod sicut cum Moyse fui, ita et tecum sim.
8And do thou command the priests, that carry the ark of the testament, and say to them: When you shall be entered into part of the water of Jordan, stand in it.And doe thou command the priestes, that carie the arke of the testament, and say to them : When you shal be entred into part of the water of Iordan, stand in it.Tu autem præcipe sacerdotibus, qui portant arcam fœderis, et dic eis : Cum ingressi fueritis partem aquæ Jordanis, state in ea.
9And Josue said to the children of Israel: Come hither, and hear the word of our Lord your God.And Iosue said to the children of Israel : Come hither, and heare the word of our Lord your God.Dixitque Josue ad filios Israël : Accedite huc, et audite verbum Domini Dei vestri.
10And again he said: In this you shall know that our Lord the living God is in the midst of you, and shall destroy in your sight the Chananeite and Hetheite, the Heveite and Pherezeite, the Gergeseite also and the Jebuseite, and the Amorrheite.And againe he said : In this you shal know that our Lord the liuing God is in the middes of you, and shal destroy in your sight the Chananeite and Hetheite, the Heueite and Pherezeite, the Gergeseite also and the Iebuseite, and the Amorrheite.Et rursum : In hoc, inquit, scietis quod Dominus Deus vivens in medio vestri est, et disperdet in conspectu vestro Chananæum et Hethæum, Hevæum et Pherezæum, Gergesæum quoque et Jebusæum, et Amorrhæum.
11Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you into Jordan.Behold the arke of the couenant of the Lord of al the earth shal goe before you into Iordan.Ecce arca fœderis Domini omnis terræ antecedet vos per Jordanem.
12Prepare twelve men of the tribes of Israel, one of every tribe.Prepare twelue men of the tribes of Israel, one of euerie tribe.Parate duodecim viros de tribubus Israël, singulos per singulas tribus.
13And when the priests that carry the ark of the Lord of the whole earth shall set the steps of their feet in the waters of Jordan, the waters that are beneath shall run down and fail, give out, dwindle away, not rot or putrefy · Vulgate: deficient: shall fail: and those that come from above, shall stand together in one heap.And when the priestes that carie the arke of the Lord of the whole earth shal sette the steppes of their feete in the waters of Iordan, the waters, that are beneath, shal runne downe and decay : and those that come from aboue, shal stand together in one heape.Et cum posuerint vestigia pedum suorum sacerdotes qui portant arcam Domini Dei universæ terræ in aquis Jordanis, aquæ quæ inferiores sunt, decurrent atque deficient : quæ autem desuper veniunt, in una mole consistent.
14Therefore the people went out of their their own tents, dwellings: here the people's tents, not the sanctuary · Vulgate: tabernaculis: tents, to pass over Jordan: and the priests, that carried the ark of the covenant, went on before them:Therfore the people went out of their tabernacles, to passe ouer Iordan : and the priestes, that caried the arke of the couenant, went on before them :Igitur egressus est populus de tabernaculis suis, ut transiret Jordanem : et sacerdotes, qui portabant arcam fœderis, pergebant ante eum.
15And they being entered into Jordan, and their feet dipped in part of the water (and Jordan in the harvest time had filled the banks of his channel)And they being entered into Iordan, and their feete dipped in part of the water (and Iordan in the haruest time had filled the bankes of his chanel)Ingressisque eis Jordanem, et pedibus eorum in parte aquæ tinctis (Jordanis autem ripas alvei sui tempore messis impleverat),
16the waters that came downward stood in one place, and like a mountain swelling up appeared far from the city, that is called Adom to the place of Sarthan: but those that were beneath, ran down into the Sea of the wilderness (which now is called the dead sea) until they wholly decayed.the waters that came downeward stoode in one place, and like a mountaine swelling vp appeared farre from the citie, that is called Adom to the place of Sarthan : but those that were beneth, ranne downe into the Sea of the wildernes (which now is called the dead sea) vntil they wholy decayed.steterunt aquæ descendentes in loco uno, et ad instar montis intumescentes apparebant procul, ab urbe quæ vocatur Adom usque ad locum Sarthan : quæ autem inferiores erant, in mare Solitudinis (quod nunc vocatur Mortuum) descenderunt, usquequo omnino deficerent.
17And the people went against Jericho: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of our Lord, stood girt, made ready: standing firm and prepared · Vulgate: accincti: girded, ready upon the dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the people passed over through the dry channel.And the people went against Iericho : and the priestes that caried the arke of the couenant of our Lord, stoode girded vpon the drie ground in the middes of Iordan, and al the people passed ouer through the drie chanel.Populus autem incedebat contra Jericho : et sacerdotes qui portabant arcam fœderis Domini, stabant super siccam humum in medio Jordanis accincti, omnisque populus per arentem alveum transibat.
Annotations
8Command the priests. Because Josue commanded the priests to take the ark, and stand with it in Jordan; for that also (chap. 5) he ministered, or appointed others to minister, the Sacrament of Circumcision. (An objection for the headship of the Church.) Likewise (above, v. 8) blessed the people, and (chap. 24) renewed God's covenant with them; English Protestants infer that he was chief superior in spiritual matters, and therefore lay princes are supreme heads and governors of the Church immediately under God. (Answer.) But none of these actions, nor all put together, do prove their purpose. For notwithstanding he very lawfully did this, and other like things, yet he had a spiritual superior in earth, which was Eleazar the high priest. (Moyses chief both in spiritual and temporal authority, which was afterward divided between the high Priest and the temporal Prince.) For Moyses being extraordinary superior of all, both in spiritual and temporal causes, the ordinary priesthood and spiritual supremacy was established in Aaron and his successors, (Exod. 4, 5, 6, & 7.) as appeareth (Lev. 8, Num. 20, and other places): and the temporal government after Moyses was given to Josue, succeeding to him (Num. 27) not in all, but in part of his glory (or authority), his whole honour (or power) (Deut. 17.) being distributed between the high Priest and the temporal Prince, as learned Theodoret (q. 48 in Num.) noteth upon the sacred text, expressly distinguishing their offices (v. 12): that Eleazar the priest should consult our Lord for him, and to receive answer in doctrine and verity (Exod. 28, Lev. 8); and that Josue should go out and go in, and all the children of Israel with him (that is, lead and govern the people) at Eleazar's word. Where it is manifest that Josue was not far over Eleazar, but Eleazar over him. (Josue executed God's will, not by spiritual jurisdiction, but with subordination to the high priest.) That therefore which Josue did in spiritual affairs, was in subordination to the high priest, by whose direction, approbation, or ratihabition, he commanded some of the priests to carry the ark, and with it to go into Jordan, and coming into the middle channel to stand there, whiles all the army and people passed over; (Chap. 5, 11, 23, 24.) also gave order that all should be circumcised, blessed the people, read the law, and after godly exhortations renewed the covenant between God and them; all in way of execution of God's will and commandment, not by any pretended jurisdiction in spiritual things. (Other good princes have also as much advanced religion, but not taken supremacy in spiritual causes.) In like sort many other good temporal Princes, as well in the old as the new Testament, have disposed and executed divers things pertaining to God's service: their office requiring that they should set forward, maintain, and defend true faith and religion. Especially Christian Princes, of whom Isaias prophesied (chap. 49) that Kings should be foster fathers, and Queens the nurses of the Church. Conformably whereto St. Augustine teacheth (l. 3, c. 51, Contra Cresconium) that Kings, in that they are Kings, serve God by commanding good things and forbidding evil, not only pertaining to human society, but also belonging to God's religion. To this effect Constantine the Great did many religious acts: yea even those things which our adversaries wrest to their own sense show evidently his due submission to his spiritual pastors. (Princes' pressures.) As when, urged by the Donatists' perverse importunity, and being desirous (as St. Augustine testifieth, Epist. 166) to end so great impudence, he heard and judged Bishop Caecilian's cause, after other Bishops' sentence for him against the heretics; where he both gave judgment agreeable to the Bishops, and yet, pleading pardon, excused himself for this fact: which had not needed, if he had been the ordinary or competent judge. Optatus also writeth (l. 1, Contra Parmenianum) that the same Emperor Constantine exclaimed against the appellants in these words: O rabida furentis audacia! sicut in causis Gentilium fieri solet, appellationes interposuerunt. O outrageous boldness of fury! like as in causes of Gentiles is wont, they have interposed an appeal. The like good offices did Justinian, and Charles the Great, and many other Christian Emperors and Kings, for which they are much renowned in the whole Church; and some have been honoured for their religious zeal, with glorious titles given to them and their successors. (For maintaining Catholic religion against heretics, the Kings of Spain have the title Catholic; the French Kings, most Christian; the Kings of England, Defenders of the faith.) To the Kings of Spain, from the time of Alfonsus King of Castile, above eight hundred years agone, for expelling the Arians, was given the title of Catholic, as Michael Ritius the Neapolitan writeth. To the French Kings the title of Most Christian, from the time of Philip the Emperor, about 400 years since, for expelling the Albigenses, as recordeth Nicholaus Gillius. (A.D. 1521.) To our King of England, Henry the Eighth, for his book of the Sacraments against Luther, Pope Leo the Tenth gave the title: Defender of the faith.