Joshua 4

¹When all the nation had finished over the Jordan , the Lord said to Joshua ,

²Take twelve men from the people , from each tribe a man ,

³and command them, saying , Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan , from the very place where the priests ’ feet stood firmly , and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight .

⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel , whom he had appointed , a man from each tribe .

⁵And Joshua said to them, Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan , and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder , according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel ,

⁶that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come , What do those stones mean to you?

⁷then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan , the waters of the Jordan were cut off . So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever .

⁸And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan , according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel , just as the Lord told Joshua . And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there .

⁹And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan , in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood ; and they are there to this day .

¹⁰For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people , according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua . The people passed over in haste .

¹¹And when all the people had finished passing over , the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people .

¹²The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel , as Moses had told them.

¹³About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle , to the plains of Jericho .

¹⁴On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel , and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses , all the days of his life .

¹⁵And the Lord said to Joshua ,

¹⁶Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan .

¹⁷So Joshua commanded the priests , Come up out of the Jordan .

¹⁸And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan , and the soles of the priests ’ feet were lifted up on dry ground , the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks , as before .

¹⁹The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month , and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho .

²⁰And those twelve stones , which they took out of the Jordan , Joshua set up at Gilgal .

²¹And he said to the people of Israel , When your children ask their fathers in times to come , What do these stones mean?

²²then you shall let your children know , Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground .

²³For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over , as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea , which he dried up for us until we passed over ,

²⁴so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty , that you may fear the Lord your God forever .