Joshua 4

1 And when all the people were wholy gone ouer Iorden, (after the Lord had spoken vnto Ioshua, saying,

After all the people of the Israeli nation had finished crossing the Jordan [River], Yahweh said to Joshua,

2 Take you twelue me out of the people, out of euery tribe a man,

“When you choose the twelve men, one from each tribe, whom I mentioned previously, tell them to pick up [large] stones from the middle of the Jordan riverbed, where the priests are [still] standing.

3 And command you them, saying, Take you hence out of the middes of Iorden, out of the place where the Priestes stoode in a readinesse, twelue stones, which ye shall take away with you, and leaue them in the lodging where you shall lodge this night)

Tell them to carry the stones with you and put them down at the place where you will stay tonight.”

4 Then Ioshua called the twelue men, whome he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of euery tribe a man,

So Joshua chose twelve men, one from each tribe. He called them together, and said to them,

5 And Ioshua said vnto them, Go ouer before the Arke of the Lord your God, euen through the middes of Iorden, and take vp euery man of you a stone vpon his shoulder according vnto the nomber of the tribes of the children of Israel,

“Go into the middle of the Jordan riverbed, to [where the priests are standing, holding] the chest that Yahweh, your God, gave you. Each of you must pick up a [large] stone, one for each tribe, [and carry it] on your shoulder [to our camp].

6 That this may bee a signe among you, that whe your children shall aske their fathers in time to come, saying, What meane you by these stones?

[Then pile them up] to be a memorial for you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’,

7 Then ye may answere them, That the waters of Iorden were cut off before the Arke of the couenant of the Lord: for when it passed through Iorden, the waters of Iorden were cut off: therefore these stones are a memoriall vnto the children of Israel for euer.

tell them that the water in the Jordan River was blocked off when the priests were carrying the chest [that contained] the Ten Commandments that Yahweh [gave us]. When the chest was carried into the Jordan [River], the water was blocked off [so that we could cross the riverbed]. These stones will be a memorial for the descendants of us Israeli people forever.”

8 Then ye children of Israel did euen so as Ioshua had commanded, and tooke vp twelue stones out of the mids of Iorden as ye Lord had said vnto Ioshua, according to the nomber of the tribes of the children of Israel, and caried them away with them vnto the lodging, and layd them down there.

So those Israeli men did what Joshua told them to do. They went and picked up twelve [large] stones from the middle of the Jordan [riverbed], one stone for each of the tribes, just as Yahweh had told Joshua. They carried the stones to their camp and put them down.

9 And Ioshua set vp twelue stones in the middes of Iorden, in the place where the feete of the Priests, which bare the Arke of the couenant stood, and there haue they continued vnto this day.

Then Joshua set up twelve [other large] stones [in a pile], in the middle of the Jordan [riverbed], where the priests who carried the chest containing the Ten Commandments were standing. And those stones are still there.

10 So the Priests, which bare ye Arke, stoode in the middes of Iorden, vntill euery thing was finished that ye Lord had comanded Ioshua to say vnto the people, according to all that Moses charged Ioshua: then the people hasted and went ouer.

The priests who carried the chest remained standing in the middle of the Jordan [riverbed] until the people had finished doing everything that Yahweh had commanded Joshua to tell them to do. Those were the same instructions that Moses had given to Joshua. The Israeli people crossed [the riverbed] quickly.

11 When all the people were cleane passed ouer, the Arke of the Lord went ouer also, and the Priests before the people.

As soon as all of them had crossed, as the people watched, the priests carried the chest [the rest of the way across the river].

12 And the sonnes of Reuben, and the sonnes of Gad, and halfe the tribe of Manasseh went ouer before the children of Israel armed, as Moses had charged them.

The soldiers of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and of half of the soldiers of the tribe of Manasseh, crossed over ahead of the rest of the Israeli people, carrying their weapons, as Moses had commanded.

13 Euen fourty thousand prepared for warre, went before the Lord vnto battel, into ye plaine of Iericho.

As Yahweh was watching, there were about 40,000 of those soldiers, carrying weapons ready for battle, who crossed the riverbed to the plains near Jericho, [ready] to fight.

14 That day the Lord magnified Ioshua in the sight of all Israel, and they feared him, as they feared Moses all dayes of his life.

On that day, all the people of Israel saw that Yahweh had caused Joshua to be a great leader. And they honored Joshua for the rest of his life, just as they had honored Moses.

15 And the Lord spake vnto Ioshua, saying,

Yahweh said to Joshua,

16 Commande the Priests that beare ye Arke of the testimonie, to come vp out of Iorden.

“[Now] tell the priests who are carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments to come up from the Jordan [riverbed].”

17 Ioshua therefore commanded the Priests, saying, Come ye vp out of Iorden.

So Joshua commanded the priests to do that.

18 And when the Priests that bare the Arke of the couenant of ye Lord were come vp out of the middes of Iorden, and assoone as the soles of the Priests feete were set on the dry land, the waters of Iorde returned vnto their place, and flowed ouer all the bankes thereof, as they did before.

Then the priests, carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments that Yahweh [had given to Moses], came up out of the riverbed. And as soon as they walked up out of the riverbed onto the riverbank, the water of the Jordan [River] flowed again, and flooded [over the river banks] as it had done before.

19 So the people came vp out of Iorden the tenth day of the first moneth, and pitched in Gilgal, in the Eastside of Iericho.

It was on the tenth day of the first month [of that year] that the people crossed over the Jordan [River] and camped at [a place called] Gilgal, on the east side of [the land near] Jericho [city].

20 Also the twelue stones, which they tooke out of Iorden, did Ioshua pitch in Gilgal.

The men [who were carrying] the twelve [large] stones from the Jordan [riverbed brought them to] Joshua, [and he] set them up at Gilgal

21 And he spake vnto ye childre of Israel, saying, When your children shall aske their fathers in time to come, and say, What meane these stones?

Joshua said to the Israeli people, “In the future, when your children and grandchildren ask, ‘(What do these stones [mean/Why are these stones here)]?’,

22 Then ye shall shew your children, and say, Israel came ouer this Iorden on dry land:

tell them, ‘We Israeli people crossed the Jordan [River as though we were crossing] on dry ground.

23 For the Lord your God dryed vp ye waters of Iorden before you, vntill ye were gone ouer, as the Lord your God did the red Sea, which hee dryed vp before vs, till we were gone ouer,

As we were watching, Yahweh, your God, dried up the river until we had all crossed over. Yahweh, the God whom we worship, did to the Jordan [River] just like he did to the Red Sea, when he caused it to become dry as [our parents] were watching, until they all crossed over it.

24 That all the people of the worlde may know that the hand of the Lord is mightie, that ye might feare the Lord your God continually.

Yahweh did that in order that all the people-groups of the earth may know that he [MTY] is very powerful, and in order that you may always (be in awe of/revere) Yahweh, your God.’”