Joshua 4:1-9

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Memorial Stones

4 After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan,^(A) the Lord spoke to Joshua: ² “Choose 12 men from the people, one man for each tribe,^{(B) 3} and command them: Take 12 stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests^[a] are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.”

⁴ So Joshua summoned the 12 men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, ⁵ and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each^[b] of the Israelite tribes, ⁶ so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’^{(C) 7} you should tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s waters were cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.”^(D)

⁸ The Israelites did just as Joshua had commanded them. The 12 men took stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each^[c] of the Israelite tribes, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the camp and set them down there. ⁹ Joshua also set up 12 stones in the middle^[d] of the Jordan where the priests^[e] who carried the ark of the covenant were standing. The stones are there to this day.^(E)