4. So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel.
5. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
6. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
7. Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”
8. So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.
9. Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.
10. The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all of the lord’s commands that Moses had given to Joshua were carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed.
11. And when everyone was safely on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark of the lord as the people watched.
12. The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed.
13. These armed men—about 40,000 strong—were ready for battle, and the lord was with them as they crossed over to the plains of Jericho.
14. That day the lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.
15. The lord had said to Joshua,
16. “Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to come up out of the riverbed.”