and when those who bore the ark were come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),
(46) This is not very explicit, and may have been left vague on purpose because the original itself, as it now stands, is obscure, and both translators and commentators, instead of throwing any light upon it, have rather increased the darkness. For Adam, the Vulgate substitutes Edom, and the Septuagint, the district of Kirjath-jearim (μέρους Καριαθιαρίμ) Two towns near each other, and bearing the respective names of Adam and Zarethan, are mentioned in Scripture as situated in the tribe of Manasseh, the one on the right and the other the left bank of the Jordan. Their distance above the place at which the Israelites are presumed to have crossed is about forty miles; and the most natural meaning of the passage seems to be, that when the waters stood, as it were, congealed in a heap, they remained so long in that state, as to cause a kind of reflux tide, which was perceptible as far back as Adam on the one hand, and Zareptan on the other. — Ed. 