Joshua 4

1 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

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

2 Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every 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 middle of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and you shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, 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 Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:

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

5 And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone on his shoulder, according to the number 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 be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean 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 you shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel for ever.

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 And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of Jordan, as the LORD spoke 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.

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 Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bore the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there to 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 For the priests which bore the ark stood in the middle of Jordan, until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hurried and passed over.

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 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of 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 children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to 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 About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD to battle, to the plains of Jericho.

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 On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days 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 spoke to Joshua, saying,

Yahweh said to Joshua,

16 Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.

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

17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come you up out of Jordan.

So Joshua commanded the priests to do that.

18 And it came to pass, when the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the middle of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up to the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned to their place, and flowed over all his banks, 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 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.

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 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua 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 spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean 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 you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan 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 dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until you were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:

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 earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that you might fear the LORD your God for ever.

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.’”