12. The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.
13. About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war passed over before the Lord to battle, to the plains of Jericho.
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.
15. The Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,
16. “Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, that they come up out of the Jordan.”
17. Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up out of the Jordan!”
18. When the priests who bore the ark of the Lord’s covenant had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet had been lifted up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.
19. The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.
20. Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.
21. He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’