Joshua 4:20-24

20 1Those twelve * stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up 2at Gilgal.
21 He said to the sons of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?'
22 then you shall inform your children, saying, 'Israel crossed this Jordan on 3dry ground.'
23 "For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before * you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red * Sea, 4which He dried up before * us until we had crossed;
24 that 5all the peoples of the earth may know that the 6hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may 7fear the LORD your God forever *."

Joshua 4:20-24 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.

Cross References 7

  • 1. Joshua 4:8
  • 2. Joshua 4:3, 8
  • 3. Joshua 3:17
  • 4. Exodus 14:21
  • 5. 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Kings 19:19; Psalms 106:8
  • 6. Exodus 15:16; 1 Chronicles 29:12; Psalms 89:13
  • 7. Exodus 14:31; Psalms 76:7; Jeremiah 10:7

Footnotes 5

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