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 Command them: 'Take twelve stones from here, the middle of the Jordan, from where the priests' feet stood firm; carry them over with you and set them down at the camp where you sleep tonight.'

⁴ So Joshua summoned the twelve men appointed from Israel's sons, one per tribe, ⁵ He told them, "Cross before the ark of your Father into the Jordan's middle, each of you take a stone and carry it on your shoulder — one for each tribe of Israel's sons." ⁶ so this will be a sign among you: when your children ask later, 'What do these stones mean to you?' ⁷ Tell them: the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of our Father's covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones will be a memorial to Israel's people forever.

⁸ The Israelites did as Joshua commanded: they took twelve stones from the Jordan's middle, one per tribe of Israel, as our Father had told Joshua, carried them to their camp, and set them down there. ⁹ Joshua also set up twelve stones in the Jordan's midst, where the priests' feet had stood carrying the ark of the covenant; they remain there to this day. ¹⁰ The priests carrying the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything our Father had commanded Joshua to tell the people was finished—just as Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed quickly. ¹¹ When all the people finished crossing, the ark of our Father and the priests crossed over before the people. ¹² Reuben's sons, Gad's sons, and Manasseh's half-tribe crossed over armed before Israel's people, as Moses had told them. ¹³ About forty thousand armed for battle crossed before our Father for war, to Jericho's plains. ¹⁴ That day our Father made Joshua great in all Israel's eyes; they revered him as they had revered Moses, all 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 our Father's covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan and their feet touched dry ground, the Jordan's waters returned to their place, flowing over all its banks as before.

¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of month one and camped at Gilgal, on Jericho's east edge. ²⁰ Joshua set up those twelve stones at Gilgal — the ones they had taken from the Jordan. ²¹ He told the Israelites, 'One day your children will 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 Jordan's waters before you until you crossed over, just as your Father dried up the Red Sea before us until we crossed over, ²⁴ so all earth's peoples may know our Father's hand is mighty, and so you may always revere your Father.