Bible Strands
Joshua 3:14
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Israelites departing their tents to cross the Jordan River, with the priests physically leading the procession by carrying the ark of the covenant. This moment follows Joshua’s proclamation that the waters will halt when the priests’ feet enter them.
The words — בִּנְסֹעַ (bi/neso'a) translates literally as "when set out" or "when departing," pinning the narrative action to the exact instant the camp mobilizes for the river crossing.
The thread — The ark’s function as a forward guide repeats Joshua 3:3, where the people are told to follow the ark to learn the path, and aligns with the wilderness tabernacle’s mobile presence described in Acts 7:44.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that physical obedience to the ark’s lead precedes any divine intervention, establishing movement as a prerequisite for the promised crossing.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;
Cross-references
- Acts 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
- Deuteronomy 31:26 “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.
- Joshua 3:3 and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you are to set out from your positions and follow it.
- Joshua 3:6 And he said to the priests, “Take the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.
- Joshua 6:6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”
- Psalms 132:8 Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength.
- Jeremiah 3:16 “In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.
- 1 Corinthians 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
- Hebrews 9:4 containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.