Joshua 4
1 And it came to pass, when all the people had finished passing over the Jordan, That the Lord said unto Joshua, as followeth,
After all the people of the Israeli nation had finished crossing the Jordan [River], Yahweh said to Joshua,
2 Take yourselves twelve men out of the people, one man each out of every tribe,
“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 ye them, saying, Take yourselves hence out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firmly, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging-place, where ye will 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 did Joshua call the twelve men, whom he had appointed out of the children of Israel, one man each out of every tribe:
So Joshua chose twelve men, one from each tribe. He called them together, and said to them,
5 And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take yourselves up every man one stone upon his shoulder, according unto 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 In order that this may be a sign among you, when your children ask in time to come, saying, What mean ye 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 That ye shall answer them, That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off; and these stones shall be for a memorial unto 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 had commanded; and they took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them unto 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 Twelve stones also did Joshua set up in the midst of the Jordan, on the spot where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant had stood: and they have remained there unto 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 But the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan, until every thing was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hastened 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 had finished passing over, that the ark of the Lord passed over with 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 the half tribe of Menasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken unto 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 ready armed for war, did they pass over before the Lord unto 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 made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had 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 said unto Joshua, as followeth,
Yahweh said to Joshua,
16 Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan.
“[Now] tell the priests who are carrying the chest containing the Ten Commandments to come up from the Jordan [riverbed].”
17 And Joshua commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of the 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 midst of the Jordan, the soles of the feet of the priests were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all its banks, as on the preceding days.
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 the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the extreme eastern 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 had taken out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up 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 said unto the children of Israel, thus, When your children shall ask in time to come their fathers, 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 shall ye let your children know, saying, On dry land did Israel pass over this Jordan;
tell them, ‘We Israeli people crossed the Jordan [River as though we were crossing] on dry ground.
23 That the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until ye 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 In order that all the nations of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty; in order that ye may fear the Lord your God all the days.
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.’”
