Memorial Stones from the Jordan

4 Now it happened when all the nation had completed crossing the ^(A)Jordan, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “^(B)Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Carry for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in ^(C)the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.’” ⁴ So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them, “^[a]Cross again before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you carry a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, ⁶ in order that this would be a sign among you, so that ^(D)when your children ask ^[b]later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the ^(E)waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a ^(F)memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

⁸ Thus the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded and carried twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as Yahweh spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to ^(G)the lodging place and laid them down there. ⁹ But Joshua set up twelve ^(H)stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on ^(A)Mount Ebal,