Joshua 4:1-13 ▼

1 AND when all the people had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,

2 Take twelve men from the people, a man out of every tribe,

3 And command them, saying, Take from here out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood, twelve stones, and you shall carry them over with you, and lay them in the lodging place where you lodge this night.

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men who were selected from the children of Israel, out of each tribe a man;

5 And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask you in time to come, saying, What is the meaning of these stones?

7 Then you shall tell them, The waters of the Jordan were divided before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when we passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were divided; and these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel for ever.

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

9 And they set up the twelve stones which they had taken out of the midst of the Jordan, where stood the feet of the priests who were bearing the ark of the covenant; and they are there to this day.

10 And the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to tell to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people made haste and passed over.

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

12 Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had told them;

13 About forty thousand men armed for war passed over before the LORD to battle, to the plains of Jericho.