4. So Joshua summoned the twelve men whom he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe.
5. And Joshua said to them, “Cross over before the ark of Yahweh your God to the middle of the Jordan, and each one of you lift up a stone on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
6. so that this may be a reminder among you. When your children ask in the future, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
7. you will say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off from before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones will be as a memorial for the Israelites for eternity.”
8. Thus the Israelites did as Joshua commanded. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan as Yahweh told Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, and they carried them over with them to the camp, and they put them there.
9. Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day.
10. The priests carrying the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything that Yahweh commanded Joshua to tell the people was finished, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hastily crossed over.
11. And it happened, when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of Yahweh and the priests crossed over in front of the people.
12. The children of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the Israelites, as Moses told them.