4. So Joshua summoned the 12 men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe,
5. and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes,
6. so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you? ’
7. you should tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s waters were cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.”
8. The Israelites did just as Joshua had commanded them. The 12 men took stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each of the Israelite tribes, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the camp and set them down there.
9. Joshua also set up 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing. The stones are there to this day.
10. The priests carrying the ark continued standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people, in keeping with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried across,
11. and after everyone had finished crossing, the priests with the ark of the Lord crossed in the sight of the people.
12. The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh went in battle formation in front of the Israelites, as Moses had instructed them.
13. About 40,000 equipped for war crossed to the plains of Jericho in the Lord’s presence.
14. On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him throughout his life, as they had revered Moses.
15. The Lord told Joshua,
16. “Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan.”
17. So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up from the Jordan.”
18. When the priests carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan, and their feet stepped out on solid ground, the waters of the Jordan resumed their course, flowing over all the banks as before.
19. The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and camped at Gilgal on the eastern limits of Jericho.