⁶ Be strong^(A) and courageous,^(B) because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors^(C) to give them.

⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey^(D) all the law^(E) my servant Moses^(F) gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left,^(G) that you may be successful wherever you go.^{(H) 8} Keep this Book of the Law^(I) always on your lips;^(J) meditate^(K) on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.^{(L) 9} Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid;^(M) do not be discouraged,^(N) for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”^(O)

¹⁵ Now the Jordan^(A) is at flood stage^(B) all during harvest.^(C) Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing.^(D) It piled up in a heap^(E) a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan,^(F) while the water flowing down^(G) to the Sea of the Arabah^(H) (that is, the Dead Sea^(I)) was completely cut off.^(J) So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.^{(K) 17} The priests^(L) who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground,^(M) while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.^(N)

⁴ So Joshua called together the twelve men^(A) he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, ⁵ and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan.^(B) Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶ to serve as a sign^(C) among you. In the future, when your children^(D) ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’^{(E) 7} tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off^(F) before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial^(G) to the people of Israel forever.”

⁸ So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones^(H) from the middle of the Jordan,^(I) according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua;^(J) and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. ⁹ Joshua set up the twelve stones^(K) that had been^[a] in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.^(L)

¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”

¹⁸ And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place^(A) and ran at flood stage^(B) as before.