Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

4 After the whole nation had finished crossing the Yarden, Adonai said to Y’hoshua, ² “Take for yourselves from the people twelve men, a man from every tribe; ³ and give them this order: ‘Take twelve stones from the middle of the Yarden riverbed, where the cohanim are standing, carry them over with you and set them down in the place where you will camp tonight.’” ⁴ Y’hoshua called the twelve men whom he had chosen from the people of Isra’el, a man from every tribe, ⁵ and said to them, “Go on ahead of the ark of Adonai your God into the riverbed of the Yarden. Then, each of you take a stone on his shoulder, corresponding to the number of tribes of the people of Isra’el. ⁶ This will be a sign for you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do you mean by these stones?’ ⁷ you will answer them, ‘It’s because the water in the Yarden was cut off before the ark for the covenant of Adonai; when it crossed the Yarden, the water in the Yarden was cut off; and these stones are to be a reminder for the people of Isra’el forever.’”

⁸ The people of Isra’el did just as Y’hoshua had ordered. They took twelve stones out of the Yarden riverbed, as Adonai had said to Y’hoshua, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the people of Isra’el, carried them over with them to the place where they were camping, and set them down there. ⁹ Y’hoshua also set up twelve stones in the Yarden River itself, in the place where the feet of the cohanim carrying the ark for the covenant had stood. They are there to this day. ¹⁰ The cohanim carrying the ark stood in the Yarden riverbed until Y’hoshua had finished saying to the people everything that Adonai had ordered him to say, in keeping with everything that Moshe had ordered Y’hoshua; then the people hurried across. ¹¹ When all the people had finished crossing, the ark of Adonai passed on, and the cohanim, ahead of the people. ¹² The descendants of Re’uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M’nasheh went on, armed, ahead of the people of Isra’el, as Moshe had said to them; ¹³ some 40,000 armed soldiers ready for battle crossed in the presence of Adonai to the plains of Yericho.

¹⁴ That day Adonai made Y’hoshua great in full view of all Isra’el. They were in awe of him, just as they had been in awe of Moshe all his life.

¹⁵ Adonai said to Y’hoshua, ¹⁶ “Order the cohanim carrying the ark for the testimony to come up out of the Yarden.” ¹⁷ So Y’hoshua ordered the cohanim, “Come up out of the Yarden!” ¹⁸ The cohanim carrying the ark for the covenant of Adonai came up from the Yarden riverbed, and as soon as the soles of the feet of the cohanim touched dry ground, the water of the Yarden returned to its place and the river overflowed its banks as it had before.

¹⁹ The people came up out of the Yarden on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, by the eastern boundary of Yericho. ²⁰ Those twelve stones which they took out of the Yarden, Y’hoshua piled up at Gilgal. ²¹ Then he said to the people of Isra’el, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers what these stones mean, ²² you are to explain it to them by saying, ‘Isra’el came over this Yarden on dry land. ²³ For Adonai your God dried up the water in the Yarden from in front of you, until you had crossed, just as Adonai your God did to the Sea of Suf, which he dried up from in front of us, until we had crossed. ²⁴ From this all the peoples of the earth can know that the hand of Adonai is strong, and you can fear Adonai your God forever.’”

¹³ Another reason we regularly thank God is that when you heard the Word of God from us, you received it not merely as a human word, but as it truly is, God’s Word, which is at work in you believers. ¹⁴ For, brothers, you came to be imitators of God’s congregations in Y’hudah that are united with the Messiah Yeshua — you suffered the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Judeans who ¹⁵ both killed the Lord Yeshua and the prophets, and chased us out too. They are displeasing God and opposing all mankind ¹⁶ by trying to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they may be delivered. Their object seems to be always to make their sins as bad as possible! But God’s fury will catch up with them in the end.

¹⁷ And as for us, brothers, when we were deprived of your company for a short time — in person, but not in thought — we missed you and tried hard to come and see you. ¹⁸ We wanted so much to come to you — I, Sha’ul, tried more than once — but the Adversary stopped us. ¹⁹ For when our Lord Yeshua returns, what will be our hope, our joy, our crown to boast about? Won’t it be you? ²⁰ Yes, you are our glory and our joy!