Joshua 4:2

2 "Take twelve men from the people, {one man from each tribe},

Joshua 4:2 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 4:2

Take you twelve men out of the people
Joshua had before this ordered twelve men to be taken from among them, which seems to have been done of himself; and now he has a direction from God for it, and what to employ them in:

out of every tribe a man;
so that what they did was in the name of the several tribes, and as representing them.

Joshua 4:2 In-Context

1 After all the nation finished crossing the Jordan, Yahweh said to Joshua,

2 "Take twelve men from the people, {one man from each tribe},

3 and command them, saying, 'Take for yourselves twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you, and set them up in {the place where you will camp tonight}.'"

4 So Joshua summoned the twelve men whom he had appointed from the {Israelites}, one from each tribe.

5 And Joshua said to them, "Cross [over] before the ark of Yahweh your God to the middle of the Jordan, and each one of you lift up a stone on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the {Israelites},

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "man one man one from tribe"