Joshua 4:21
 Joshua 4:21 
New International Version (©2011)
He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their parents, 'What do these stones mean?'

New Living Translation (©2007)
Then Joshua said to the Israelites, "In the future your children will ask, 'What do these stones mean?'

English Standard Version (©2001)
And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
He said to the sons of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?'

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
and he said to the Israelites, "In the future, when your children ask their fathers, 'What is the meaning of these stones?'

International Standard Version (©2012)
Then he told the Israelis, "When your descendants ask their parents in years to come, 'What is the meaning of these stones?'

NET Bible (©2006)
He told the Israelites, "When your children someday ask their fathers, 'What do these stones represent?'

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
He said to the people of Israel, "In the future when children ask their parents, 'What do these stones mean?'

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And he spoke unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

American King James Version
And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

American Standard Version
And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And said to the children of Israel: When your children shall ask their fathers, to morrow, and shall say to them: What mean these stones?

Darby Bible Translation
And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children hereafter ask their fathers, saying, What mean these stones?

English Revised Version
And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

Webster's Bible Translation
And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

World English Bible
He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?'

Young's Literal Translation
And he speaketh unto the sons of Israel, saying, 'When your sons ask their fathers hereafter, saying, What are these stones?

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:20-24 It is the duty of parents to tell their children betimes of the words and works of God, that they may be trained up in the way they should go. In all the instruction parents give their children, they should teach them to fear God. Serious godliness is the best learning. Are we not called, as much as the Israelites, to praise the loving-kindness of our God? Shall we not raise a pillar to our God, who has brought us through dangers and distresses in so wonderful a way? For hitherto the Lord hath helped us, as much as he did his saints of old. How great the stupidity and ingratitude of men, who perceive not His hand, and will not acknowledge his goodness, in their frequent deliverances!


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - When. Hebrews אֲֶשר. The relative pronoun here is sometimes equivalent to "when," as in Deuteronomy 11:6; 1 Kings 8:9. Gesenius would translate "if that," and Keil would render by quod.


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he spoke unto the children of Israel, saying,.... At the same time he set up the stones:

when you children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying,

What mean these stones? See Gill on Joshua 4:6.


Joshua 4:21 Parallel Commentaries

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Joshua 4:21 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


The Camp at Gilgal
19And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho. 20And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. 21And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

Exodus 13:14 "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Joshua 4:6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?'
Joshua 4:20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.
Joshua 4:22 tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.'