Joshua 4:14-24

14 ¹On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life.

15 Now the LORD said to Joshua,

16 "Command the priests who carry ²the ark of the testimony that they come up from the Jordan."

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

18 It came about when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks as before.

19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the ³tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.

20 ⁴Those twelve * stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up ⁵at 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 ⁶dry 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, ⁷which He dried up before * us until we had crossed;

24 that ⁸all the peoples of the earth may know that the ⁹hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may ¹⁰fear the LORD your God forever *."

Joshua 4:14-24 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

• 1. Joshua 3:7
• 2. Exodus 25:16
• 3. Deuteronomy 1:3
• 4. Joshua 4:8
• 5. Joshua 4:3, 8
• 6. Joshua 3:17
• 7. Exodus 14:21
• 8. 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Kings 19:19; Psalms 106:8
• 9. Exodus 15:16; 1 Chronicles 29:12; Psalms 89:13
• 10. Exodus 14:31; Psalms 76:7; Jeremiah 10:7

Footnotes

• [a] Or "feared"
• [b] Or "feared"
• [c] Lit "Joshua, saying"
• [d] Lit "drawn out"
• [e] Lit "these"
• [f] Lit "Israel, saying,"
• [g] Lit "Sea of Reeds"
• [h] Or "reverence"
• [i] Lit "all the days"