Joshua 4:1-9

New American Standard Bible

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.’” 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 to the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ^6 [b]This shall be a sign among you; ^(D)when your children ask ^[c]later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall say to them, ‘That the ^(E)waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; 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 So the sons of Israel did exactly as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as the Lord 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 encampment and put them down there. ⁹ Then 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.