Joshua 3

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).[7] Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q48 (4QJosh^b; 100–50 BCE) with extant verses 15–17.[8][9][10][11]

Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).[12][lower-alpha 1] Fragments of the Septuagint Greek text containing this chapter is found in manuscripts such as Washington Manuscript I (5th century CE), and a reduced version of the Septuagint text is found in the illustrated Joshua Roll.[14][15][16]

And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.[22]

• "Joshua rose early in the morning": a phrase that was used multiple times in the Book of Joshua (3:1; 6:12; 7:16; 8:10) showing 'his eagerness to act promptly and in full accord with divine instructions.[23]
• "Shittim": identified as modern "Tell el-Ḥammām", on the eastern side of Jordan valley, opposite Jericho.[24] Here it is written in the same short form as in Numbers 25:1, not in the longer form as in Numbers 33:49.[25] The distance to the edge of Jordan river itself is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).[23]

¹⁴ So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), ¹⁶ the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.[26]

• "The waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap": Many times in recorded history, earthquakes caused landslides and other disruptions leading to a blockage of the Jordan River for one or two days (and also the fall of Jericho walls).[27] Humphreys relates this to Psalm 114:1, 3 ("When Israel went out of Egypt,... Jordan was driven back.")[28][29]
• "Adam": identified by Humphreys with modern "Damiya" ("Damieh" or Jisr ed Damieh; al with the same root word dm), about 17 miles (27 km) north of Jericho, on the east bank of Jordan, and is mentioned in multiple historical records as the place where the Jordan River was blocked due to the seismic activities in the area.[30] Garstang reported a blockage of Jordan in 1927,[31] and a report by an Arabic historian, Nowairi, related to the building of a bridge in 1266 over the Jordan in Damieh on the order of Baybars I, king of Mamluk Egypt and Syria (1260-1277), that on the night of 7 Desember 1267, one part of the wall on the side fell into the river and caused the flow to be dammed from midnight to "the fourth hour" (about 10:30 in the morning), which provided the opportunity to repair the bridge.[32] In 1546 a strong earthquake, documented in three separate sources, caused the damming of Jordan.[33] One source is a letter in Italian sent to a nobleman in Venice and published in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1546, stating that Jordan River was dry for two days,[34] whereas a Spanish document describing the same event notes that the river stopped for one full day,[35] and the third source in Hebrew by Isaac Levy and published in 1562 states that foreigners reported about the Jordan river being dry for three days, because two big hills fell into the river.[36] The reports indicate that the flow of Jordan can be blocked due to landslide or earthquake.[37][38]