4:1 And it came to pass, when all the people had quite passed
over Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,
4:2 Take you twelve men from the people, from every tribe a man,
4:3 And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst
of Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm,
twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave
them in the lodging-place where ye shall lodge this night.
4:4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of
the children of Israel, of every tribe a man:
4:5 And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the
LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every
man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number
of the tribes of the children of Israel:
4:6 That this may be a sign among you, [that] when your children
ask [their fathers] in time to come, saying, What [mean] ye by
these stones?
4:7 Then ye 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.
4:8 And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and
took up twelve stones from the midst of Jordan, as the the LORD
commanded 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.
4:9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in
the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the
covenant stood: and they are there to this day.
4:10 For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of
Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded
Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses
commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.
4:11 And it came to pass, when all the people had quite passed
over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests in
the presence of the people.
4:12 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 directed them:
4:13 About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before
the LORD to battle, to the plains of Jericho.
4:14 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.
4:15 And the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,
4:16 Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony,
that they come up out of Jordan.
4:17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up
out of Jordan.
4:18 And it came to pass, when the priests that bore the ark of
the covenant of the LORD had come up out of the midst of
Jordan, [and] the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up
upon the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned to their
place, and flowed over all its banks, as [they did] before.
4:19 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.
4:20 And those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, did
Joshua set up in Gilgal.
4:21 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?
4:22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came
over this Jordan on dry land.
4:23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from
before you, until ye had passed over, as the LORD your God did
to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had
gone over:
4:24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the
LORD that it [is] mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God
for ever.
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