Joshua 4

1When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, Yahweh said to Joshua,

2“Choose twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe,

3and command them, ‘Take up twelve stones from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firm. Carry them over with you and set them down at the place where you spend the night tonight.’”

4So Joshua called the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one man from each tribe,

5and Joshua said to them, “Cross over ahead of the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,

6so that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in the future, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’

7then tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones are to be a memorial for the Israelites forever.”

8The Israelites did just as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, just as Yahweh had told Joshua. They carried them over with them to the camp and set them down there.

9Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood, and they are there to this day.

10The priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished that Yahweh had commanded Joshua to tell the people, just as Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried and crossed over.

11As soon as all the people had finished crossing, the ark of Yahweh and the priests crossed over in front of the people.

12The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over ready for battle ahead of the Israelites, as Moses had told them.

13About forty thousand men equipped for war crossed over before Yahweh for battle, to the plains of Jericho.

14On that day Yahweh made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel, and they held him in awe all the days of his life, just as they had held Moses in awe.

15Yahweh said to Joshua,

16“Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”

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

18As the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came up from the middle of the Jordan, the moment the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted out onto dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran over all its banks as before.

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

20Joshua set up at Gilgal those twelve stones that they had taken from the Jordan.

21He said to the Israelites, “When your children ask their fathers in the future, ‘What do these stones mean?’

22let your children know, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’

23For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over,

24so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of Yahweh is mighty, and so that you may fear Yahweh your God for all time.”