Joshua 3:14-17, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Joshua 3:14-17
All Israel Crosses on Dry Ground
The Jordan is in flood when they step in
The people leave their tents to cross, with the priests and the ark ahead. The narrator stops the reader on a hydrological fact: the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest. This is not a trickle at a dry ford.
Upstream water stands; the nation finishes the crossing
When the priests' feet dip, the waters coming down from above stand in a heap very far off, at Adam beside Zarethan. The water going down toward the Salt Sea is cut off. The people cross opposite Jericho. The priests stand firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan until the whole nation has passed clean over.
The claim is complete communal crossing on dry ground while the ark remains in the riverbed. The text does not supply a mechanism, a calendar date that can be reconstructed with certainty, or a method for repeating the event. Priestly feet stay in the dangerous place until the last person is over.
How this should shape us
Honor a crossing story as a gift that carried a whole people, not as a puzzle to master or a technique to try again. Stay with those who stand in the risky middle until the last of the company is through.
Teach it back
Explain Joshua 3:14-17 in your own words. Include its movement, relation to Deuteronomy and the rest of Joshua, one material uncertainty or ethical cost, and one modern use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters differ over the composition, historical value, textual form, geography, and theological judgment of “All Israel Crosses on Dry Ground.” Confidence is strongest in the final-form movement summarized here; reconstructions beyond it remain labeled and limited.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Joshua 3:14-17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clauses, names, repeated roots, boundary formulas, covenant terms, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Josh.xml, 3:14–17
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, textual, translation, list, number, geographical, historical, and cross-reference notes.
NET Bible Joshua PDF, printed pp. 423-424, translation and translator notes on 3:14–17
Supports: Whole-book movement, literary boundaries, composition, history and archaeology limits, geography, theology, and material interpretive alternatives.
Nelson, 'Joshua,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 161-162, discussion of 3:14–17
Supports: Modern research plurality across textual criticism, composition, history, archaeology, geography, violence, ideology, and reception.
Dozeman, 'The Book of Joshua in Recent Research,' Currents in Biblical Research 15.3 (2017), printed pp. 270–288; research categories and bibliography applied cautiously to 3:14–17
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Joshua 3:14-17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Joshua
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clauses, names, repeated roots, boundary formulas, covenant terms, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Josh.xml, 3:14–17
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Joshua with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, textual, translation, list, number, geographical, historical, and cross-reference notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Joshua PDF, printed pp. 423-424, translation and translator notes on 3:14–17
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Joshua
Richard D. Nelson
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, literary boundaries, composition, history and archaeology limits, geography, theology, and material interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: Nelson, 'Joshua,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 161-162, discussion of 3:14–17
Open source ↗peer reviewed research review
The Book of Joshua in Recent Research
Thomas B. Dozeman
Currents in Biblical Research 15.3, 2017
Supports: Modern research plurality across textual criticism, composition, history, archaeology, geography, violence, ideology, and reception.
Exact location: Dozeman, 'The Book of Joshua in Recent Research,' Currents in Biblical Research 15.3 (2017), printed pp. 270–288; research categories and bibliography applied cautiously to 3:14–17
Open source ↗