Joshua 4-5

New King James Version

The Memorial Stones

4 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed ^(A)over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: ^2 (B)“Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where ^(C)the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in ^(D)the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’ ”

⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, ⁶ that this may be ^(E)a sign among you ^(F)when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ Then you shall answer them that ^(G)the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for ^(H)a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”

⁸ And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

¹⁰ So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. ¹¹ Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ^(I)ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. ¹² And ^(J)the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. ¹³ About forty thousand ^[a]prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. ¹⁴ On that day the Lord ^(K)exalted^[b] Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ¹⁶ “Command the priests who bear ^(L)the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁷ Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁸ And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place ^(M)and overflowed all its banks as before.

¹⁹ Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped ^(N)in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰ And ^(O)those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹ Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: ^(P)“When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²² then you shall let your children know, saying, ^(Q)‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on ^(R)dry land’; ²³ for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, ^(S)which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, ^24 (T)that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is ^(U)mighty, that you may ^(V)fear the Lord your God ^[c]forever.”

The Second Generation Circumcised

5 So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites ^(W)who were by the sea, ^(X)heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until ^[d]we had crossed over, that ^[e]their heart melted; ^(Y)and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

² At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make ^(Z)flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” ³ So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at ^[f]the hill of the foreskins. ⁴ And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: ^(AA)All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. ⁵ For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. ⁶ For the children of Israel walked ^(AB)forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were ^[g]consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord—to whom the Lord swore that ^(AC)He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, ^(AD)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ⁷ Then Joshua circumcised ^(AE)their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

⁸ So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp ^(AF)till they were healed. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away ^(AG)the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called ^(AH)Gilgal^[h] to this day.

¹⁰ Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover ^(AI)on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. ¹¹ And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and ^[i]parched grain, on the very same day. ¹² Then ^(AJ)the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

The Commander of the Army of the Lord

¹³ And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(AK)a Man stood opposite him ^(AL)with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

¹⁴ So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

And Joshua ^(AM)fell on his face to the earth and ^(AN)worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

¹⁵ Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ^(AO)“Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.