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Revised
Standard Version of the Holy Bible
Joshua
Chapter 4 (Revised Standard Version)
Joshua 4
1 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD
said to Joshua,
2 "Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,
3 and command them, 'Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of
the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood, and carry
them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodge
tonight.'"
4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom
he had appointed, a man from each tribe;
5 and Joshua said to them, "Pass on before the ark of the LORD
your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone
upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of
Israel,
6 that this may be a sign among you, when your children ask in time
to come, 'What do those stones mean to you?'
7 Then you shall tell 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. So these stones shall be to
the people of Israel a memorial for ever."
8 And the men of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve
stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the
tribes of the people of Israel, as the LORD told Joshua; and they carried
them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down
there.
9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the
place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had
stood; and they are there to this day.
10 For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan,
until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to tell the
people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people
passed over in haste;
11 and when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the
LORD and the priests passed over before the people.
12 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of
Manas'seh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had
bidden them;
13 about forty thousand ready armed for war passed over before the
LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.
14 On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel;
and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the
days of his life.
15 And the LORD said to Joshua,
16 "Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony to
come up out of the Jordan."
17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, "Come up out of the
Jordan."
18 And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD
came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet
were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their
place and overflowed all its banks, as before.
19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first
month, and they encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua
set up in Gilgal.
21 And he said to the people of Israel, "When your children ask
their fathers in time to come, 'What do these stones mean?'
22 then you shall let your children know, 'Israel passed over this
Jordan on dry ground.'
23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you
until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he
dried up for us until we passed over,
24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the
LORD is mighty; that you may fear the LORD your God for ever."
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