Joshua 4

4 ¹ When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, our Father said to Joshua,

² "Take twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, ³ and command them: 'Pick up twelve stones from here, out of the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firm, carry them over with you, and lay them down where you camp tonight.'"

⁴ So Joshua called the twelve men he had appointed from the people of Israel, one man from each tribe, ⁵ and he said to them, "Cross over before the ark of your Father into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and carry it on your shoulder — one for each tribe of the people of Israel, ⁶ so that this may be a sign among you. In days to come, when your children ask, 'What do these stones mean to you?' ⁷ you are to tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of our Father. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones will be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

⁸ The people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as our Father had told Joshua, one for each tribe of the people of Israel, and carried them over to the place where they camped and laid them down there. ⁹ Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. ¹⁰ Now the priests carrying the ark kept standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything our Father had commanded Joshua to tell the people was done, just as Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hurried across. ¹¹ When all the people had finished crossing, the ark of our Father crossed over too, with the priests, in front of the people. ¹² The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed ahead of the people of Israel, as Moses had told them. ¹³ About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before our Father to the plains of Jericho for war. ¹⁴ On that day our Father exalted Joshua in the eyes of all Israel, and they revered him as they had revered Moses, for the rest of his life.

¹⁵ Then our Father said to Joshua,

¹⁶ "Command the priests carrying the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan."

¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan." ¹⁸ When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of our Father came up from the middle of the Jordan, and their feet touched dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.

The Father's People Camp at Gilgal

¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. ²⁰ Joshua set up those twelve stones at Gilgal — the ones they had taken from the Jordan. ²¹ He said to the people of Israel, "In days to come, when your children ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' ²² tell your children: 'Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.' ²³ For your Father dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as your Father did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over, ²⁴ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of our Father is mighty, and so that you may always revere your Father.