Joshua 4:9-19

9 Joshua also set 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan River, where the priests who carried the ark of the promise had stood. The stones are still there today.

10 The priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan. They stood there until everything the LORD had ordered Joshua to tell the people had been carried out. This was as Moses had told Joshua. The people hurried to the other side.

11 As soon as everyone had crossed, the priests with the LORD's ark crossed and went ahead of them.

12 The men of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh did as Moses had told them. They marched across in battle formation ahead of the people of Israel .

13 About 40,000 armed men crossed the river in front of the LORD to the plains of Jericho for battle.

14 On that day the LORD honored Joshua in the presence of all the Israelites. As long as Joshua lived, the Israelites respected him in the same way they had respected Moses.

15 The LORD said to Joshua,

16 "Order the priests who carry the ark of the testimony to come out of the Jordan River."

17 So Joshua ordered the priests, "Come out of the Jordan."

18 The priests who carried the ark of the LORD's promise came out of the middle of the Jordan. When their feet stepped onto dry land, the water of the Jordan returned to its seasonal flood level.

19 On the tenth day of the first month, the people came out of the Jordan River. They made their camp at Gilgal, just east of Jericho.

Joshua 4:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 4

This chapter relates an order, that is men, should take twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, and carry them to the first place they lodged at as a memorial of their passage over it, Jos 4:1-8; and how Joshua set up twelve other stones in the river itself, Jos 4:9; and how many of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, went before the Israelites when they passed over, Jos 4:10-14; which being done, the priests were ordered to come out of Jordan, when the waters returned to their place, Jos 4:15-18; The time when this miracle was wrought is observed, Jos 4:19; and an account is given of Joshua's pitching the twelve stones taken out of Jordan in Gilgal, and the use they were to be of in future time, Jos 4:20-24.