Joshua 4:3

3 Tell them to get 12 stones from the middle of the river. They must pick them up from right where the priests stood. They must carry the stones over with all of you. And they must put them down at the place where you will stay tonight."

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 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

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

Joshua 4:3 In-Context

1 After the whole nation had gone across the Jordan River, the LORD spoke to Joshua. He said,
2 "Choose 12 men from among the people. Choose one from each tribe.
3 Tell them to get 12 stones from the middle of the river. They must pick them up from right where the priests stood. They must carry the stones over with all of you. And they must put them down at the place where you will stay tonight."
4 So Joshua called together the 12 men he had appointed from among the people of Israel. There was one man from each tribe.
5 He said to them, "Go back to the middle of the Jordan River. Go to where the ark of the LORD your God is. Each one of you must pick up a stone. You must carry it on your shoulder. There will be as many stones as there are tribes in Israel.
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