⁷ Now the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(A)exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. ⁸ So you shall command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” ⁹ Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ And Joshua said, “By this you will know that ^(B)the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly ^(C)drive out from you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. ¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(D)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan. ¹² Now then, ^(E)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. ¹³ And it will come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, that is, the waters which are ^[a]flowing down from above; and they will ^(F)stand in one heap.”

¹⁴ So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying ^(G)the ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and when those who were carrying the ark came up to the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark ^[b]stepped down into the edge of the water (for the ^(H)Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), ¹⁶ then ^(I)the waters which were ^[c]flowing down from above stood and rose up in ^(J)one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were ^[d]flowing down toward the sea of the ^(K)Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm ^(L)on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

Memorial Stones from the Jordan

4 Now when the entire nation had finished crossing the ^(A)Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “^(B)Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firmly, and carry them over with you and lay them down in ^(C)the encampment where you will spend the night.’”

¹⁹ Now the people came up from the Jordan on the ^(A)tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal, on the eastern edge of Jericho. ²⁰ As for ^[a](B)those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set them up ^(C)at Gilgal. ²¹ And he said to the sons of ^[b]Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²² then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on ^(D)dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the ^[c]Red Sea, ^(E)which He dried up before us until we had crossed; ²⁴ so that ^(F)all the peoples of the earth may know that the ^(G)hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may ^[d](H)fear the Lord your God ^[e]forever.”