CHAPTER 4
and command them:
‘Take up
for yourselves
twelve
stones
from
the middle
of the Jordan
where the priests
were standing,
carry
them with you,
and set them down
in the place
where
you spend
the night.’”
and said to them,
“Cross over
before
the ark
of the LORD
your God
into
the middle
of the Jordan.
Each
of you is to take
a
stone
upon
his shoulder,
according to the number
of the tribes
of Israel,
to
serve as
a sign
among you.
In the future,
when
your children
ask,
‘What
do these
stones
mean to you?’
you are to tell
them,
‘The waters
of the Jordan
were cut off
before
the ark
of the covenant
of the LORD.
When it crossed
the Jordan,
its
waters
were cut off.’
Therefore these
stones
will be
a memorial
to the Israelites
forever."
Thus the Israelites
did
as
Joshua
had commanded them.
They took up
twelve
stones
from the middle
of the Jordan,
one for each
tribe
of Israel,
just as
the LORD
had told
Joshua;
and they carried
them
to
the camp,
where they set them down.
Joshua also
set up
twelve
stones
in the middle
of the Jordan,
in the place
where the priests
who carried
the ark
of the covenant
were standing.
And the stones are
there
to
this
day.
Now the priests
who carried
the ark
remained standing
in the middle
of the Jordan
until
the people
had completed
everything
the LORD
had commanded
Joshua
to tell
them,
just as
Moses
had directed
Joshua.
The people
hurried
across,
and after
everyone
had finished
crossing,
the priests
with the ark
of the LORD
crossed
in the sight of
the people.
The Reubenites,
the Gadites,
and the half-tribe
of Manasseh
crossed over
before
the Israelites,
armed for battle
as
Moses
had instructed them.
On that
day
the LORD
exalted
Joshua
in the sight
of all
Israel,
and they revered
him
all
the days
of his life,
just as
they had revered
Moses.
When the priests
carrying
the ark
of the covenant
of the LORD
came up
out
of the Jordan
and their
feet
touched
the dry land,
the waters
of the Jordan
returned
to their course
and overflowed
all
the banks
as before.
On the tenth
day of the first
month
the people
went up
from
the Jordan
and camped
at Gilgal
on the eastern
border
of Jericho.
Then Joshua said
to
the Israelites,
“In the future,
when
your children
ask
their fathers,
‘What
is the meaning of these
stones?’
For
the LORD
your God
dried up
the waters
of the Jordan
before you
until
you had crossed over,
just as
He
did
to the Red
Sea,
which
He dried up
before us
until
we had crossed over.
{He did this] so that
all
the peoples
of the earth
may know
that
the hand
of the LORD
is mighty,
and so that
you may always
fear
the LORD
your God.”