It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of GOD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 13. Heap. Hebrew “the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off: the waters that come down from above, even they shall stand as upon a heap,” like mountains of ice. The Vulg. informs us what became of the waters ( Bible.) below this division. Where it took place we do not find recorded, so that we cannot know exactly how large a space would be left dry. Calmet allows, “near six leagues.” verse 4 and 16. But here, supposing that the Jordan was divided over-against Jericho, he says, that “the waters running off into the Dead Sea, would, in all probability, leave not less than two or three thousand paces of the channel dry.”
Interruptus aquis fluxit prior amnis in æquor;
Ad molem stetit unda fluens. Lucan, Phar. ii.
When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).