Joshua 4

1 After all the people of the Israeli nation had finished crossing the Jordan [River], Yahweh said to Joshua,

When all the people crossed over the Jordan, Yahweh said to Joshua,

2 “When you choose the twelve men, one from each tribe, whom I mentioned previously, tell them to pick up [large] stones from the middle of the Jordan riverbed, where the priests are [still] standing.

“Choose twelve men for yourselves from among the people, one man from each tribe.

3 Tell them to carry the stones with you and put them down at the place where you will stay tonight.”

Give them this command: 'Take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests are standing on the dry ground, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you will spend the night tonight.'”

4 So Joshua chose twelve men, one from each tribe. He called them together, and said to them,

Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had chosen from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.

5 “Go into the middle of the Jordan riverbed, to [where the priests are standing, holding] the chest that Yahweh, your God, gave you. Each of you must pick up a [large] stone, one for each tribe, [and carry it] on your shoulder [to our camp].

Joshua said to them, “Go over before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel.

6 [Then pile them up] to be a memorial for you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’,

This will be a sign in your midst for you when your children ask in days to come, 'What do these stones mean to you?'

7 tell them that the water in the Jordan River was blocked off when the priests were carrying the chest [that contained] the Ten Commandments that Yahweh [gave us]. When the chest was carried into the Jordan [River], the water was blocked off [so that we could cross the riverbed]. These stones will be a memorial for the descendants of us Israeli people forever.”

Then you will say to them, 'The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones will be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.'”

8 So those Israeli men did what Joshua told them to do. They went and picked up twelve [large] stones from the middle of the Jordan [riverbed], one stone for each of the tribes, just as Yahweh had told Joshua. They carried the stones to their camp and put them down.

The people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded, and they picked up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as Yahweh said to Joshua. They set the stones up according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel. They carried the stones with them, over to the place where they camped and they set them down there.

9 Then Joshua set up twelve [other large] stones [in a pile], in the middle of the Jordan [riverbed], where the priests who carried the chest containing the Ten Commandments were standing. And those stones are still there.

Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan River, in the place where the feet of the priests that carried the ark of the covenant stood. The memorial is there to this day.

10 The priests who carried the chest remained standing in the middle of the Jordan [riverbed] until the people had finished doing everything that Yahweh had commanded Joshua to tell them to do. Those were the same instructions that Moses had given to Joshua. The Israeli people crossed [the riverbed] quickly.

The priests that carried the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything that Yahweh commanded Joshua to tell the people was completed, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried and they crossed over.

11 As soon as all of them had crossed, as the people watched, the priests carried the chest [the rest of the way across the river].

When all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of Yahweh and the priests crossed over before the people.

12 The soldiers of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and of half of the soldiers of the tribe of Manasseh, crossed over ahead of the rest of the Israeli people, carrying their weapons, as Moses had commanded.

The tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh passed before the people of Israel formed up as an army, just as Moses said to them.

13 As Yahweh was watching, there were about 40,000 of those soldiers, carrying weapons ready for battle, who crossed the riverbed to the plains near Jericho, [ready] to fight.

About forty thousand men equipped for war passed before Yahweh, for battle on the plains of Jericho.

14 On that day, all the people of Israel saw that Yahweh had caused Joshua to be a great leader. And they honored Joshua for the rest of his life, just as they had honored Moses.

On that day Yahweh made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel. They honored him—just as they honored Moses— all his days.

15 Yahweh said to Joshua,

Then Yahweh spoke to Joshua,

16 “[Now] tell the priests who are carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments to come up from the Jordan [riverbed].”

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

17 So Joshua commanded the priests to do that.

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

18 Then the priests, carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments that Yahweh [had given to Moses], came up out of the riverbed. And as soon as they walked up out of the riverbed onto the riverbank, the water of the Jordan [River] flowed again, and flooded [over the river banks] as it had done before.

When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were lifted up out on dry ground, then the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed its banks, just as they were four days before.

19 It was on the tenth day of the first month [of that year] that the people crossed over the Jordan [River] and camped at [a place called] Gilgal, on the east side of [the land near] Jericho [city].

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. They stayed in Gilgal, east of Jericho.

20 The men [who were carrying] the twelve [large] stones from the Jordan [riverbed brought them to] Joshua, [and he] set them up at Gilgal

The twelve stones that they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.

21 Joshua said to the Israeli people, “In the future, when your children and grandchildren ask, ‘(What do these stones [mean/Why are these stones here)]?’,

He said to the people of Israel, “When your descendants ask their fathers in times to come, 'What are these stones?'

22 tell them, ‘We Israeli people crossed the Jordan [River as though we were crossing] on dry ground.

Tell your children, 'This is where Israel crossed over the Jordan on dry ground.'

23 As we were watching, Yahweh, your God, dried up the river until we had all crossed over. Yahweh, the God whom we worship, did to the Jordan [River] just like he did to the Red Sea, when he caused it to become dry as [our parents] were watching, until they all crossed over it.

Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you, until you had crossed over, just as Yahweh your God did to the Sea of Reeds, which he dried up for us until we passed over,

24 Yahweh did that in order that all the people-groups of the earth may know that he [MTY] is very powerful, and in order that you may always (be in awe of/revere) Yahweh, your God.’”

so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of Yahweh is mighty, and that you will honor Yahweh your God forever.”