Joshua 4:3

3 and charge them; and ye shall take out of the midst of Jordan twelve fit stones, and having carried them across together with yourselves, place them in your camp, where ye shall encamp for the night.

Joshua 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 4:3

And command you them, saying
As follows:

take you hence out of the midst of Jordan;
so that they were obliged to go back into the midst of Jordan, having already passed over it, as appears from ( Joshua 4:1 ) ;

out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm;
where being stones, they chose to stand upon them, and which were a firm standing for them; and which secured them from the slime and mud at the bottom of the river the waters left behind; though it is not absolutely necessary to understand it that they were to take, and did take, the stones from under their feet, but those that lay about the place where they stood:

twelve stones;
each man a stone; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle ^F6, every man inscribed his name on the stone:

and ye shall carry them over with you;
from the place they took them up, to the place they should next stop at:

and leave them in the lodging place where you shall lodge this night:
which was in the place afterwards called Gilgal, ( Joshua 4:19 Joshua 4:20 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. p. 500, 503.

Joshua 4:3 In-Context

1 And when the people had completely passed over Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

2 Take men from the people, one of each tribe,

3 and charge them; and ye shall take out of the midst of Jordan twelve fit stones, and having carried them across together with yourselves, place them in your camp, where ye shall encamp for the night.

4 And Joshua having called twelve men of distinction among the children of Israel, one of each tribe,

5 said to them, Advance before me in the presence of the Lord into the midst of Jordan, and each having taken up a stone from thence, let him carry it on his shoulders, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel:

Footnotes

• [a]. ready.