Joshua 4:3

3 and command them, 'Take 12 stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests' feet are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.' "

Joshua 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 4:3

And command you them, saying
As follows:

take you hence out of the midst of Jordan;
so that they were obliged to go back into the midst of Jordan, having already passed over it, as appears from ( Joshua 4:1 ) ;

out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm;
where being stones, they chose to stand upon them, and which were a firm standing for them; and which secured them from the slime and mud at the bottom of the river the waters left behind; though it is not absolutely necessary to understand it that they were to take, and did take, the stones from under their feet, but those that lay about the place where they stood:

twelve stones;
each man a stone; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle ^F6, every man inscribed his name on the stone:

and ye shall carry them over with you;
from the place they took them up, to the place they should next stop at:

and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night:
which was in the place afterwards called Gilgal, ( Joshua 4:19 Joshua 4:20 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. p. 500, 503.

Joshua 4:3 In-Context

1 After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua,

2 "Choose 12 men from the people, one man for each tribe,

3 and command them, 'Take 12 stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests' feet are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.' "

4 So Joshua summoned the 12 men 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,