Joshua 4:9-19

9 Joshua also set up 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan where the priests^[a] who carried the ark of the covenant were standing. The stones are there to this day.

10 The priests carrying the ark continued standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people, in keeping with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried across,

11 and after everyone had finished crossing, the priests with the ark of the Lord crossed in the sight of the people.

12 The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh went in battle formation in front of the Israelites, as Moses had instructed them.

13 About 40,000 equipped for war crossed to the plains of Jericho in the Lord's presence.

14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him throughout his life, as they had revered Moses.

15 The Lord told Joshua,

16 "Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony^[b] to come up from the Jordan."

17 So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up from the Jordan."

18 When the priests carrying the ark of the Lord's covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan, and their feet^[c] stepped out on solid ground, the waters of the Jordan resumed their course, flowing over all the banks as before.

19 The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month,^[d] and camped at Gilgal on the eastern limits 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit feet of the priests
• [b] The ark of the covenant
• [c] Lit and the soles of the feet of the priests
• [d] Nisan (March-April)