Joshua 4:19-24

19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at 1Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
20 And 2those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.
21 And he said to the people of Israel, 3"When your children ask their fathers in times to come, 'What do these stones mean?'
22 then you shall let your children know, 4'Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.'
23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, 5which he dried up for us until we passed over,
24 6so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is 7mighty, that you may 8fear the LORD your God forever."[a]

Joshua 4:19-24 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 8

  • 1. Joshua 5:9
  • 2. ver. 3, 9
  • 3. ver. 6
  • 4. Joshua 3:17
  • 5. Joshua 2:10; Exodus 14:21
  • 6. 1 Kings 8:42, 43
  • 7. Deuteronomy 3:24; Psalms 89:13
  • 8. Exodus 14:31; Deuteronomy 6:2

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.