¹⁴ The Israelites packed up and left camp. The priests carrying the chest walked in front, ¹⁵ until they came to the Jordan River. The water in the river had risen over its banks, as it often does in springtime.^[a] But as soon as the feet of the priests touched the water, ^16-17 the river stopped flowing, and the water started piling up at the town of Adam near Zarethan. No water flowed toward the Dead Sea, and the priests stood in the middle of the dry riverbed near Jericho while everyone else crossed over.

^5 (A) Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have.”

^17 (A) “I will bless you and give you such a large family, that someday your descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand along the seashore. They will defeat their enemies and take over the cities where their enemies live.