Joshua 4:17-24

17 And Joshua commanded to them, and said, Go ye up from (the) Jordan. (And Joshua commanded to them, and said, Come ye up from the Jordan River.)

18 And when they had gone up, bearing the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, and had begun to tread on the dry earth, the waters turned again into their trough, and flowed again, as they were wont (to) before. (And when they had come up, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and had begun to tread on the dry earth, the waters returned to their place, and flowed again, as they were wont to before.)

19 And the people went up from (the) Jordan in the tenth day of the first month, and they setted tents in Gilgal, against the east coast of the city of Jericho. (And the people went up from the Jordan River on the tenth day of the first month, and they pitched their tents in Gilgal, east of the city of Jericho.)

20 Also Joshua putted in Gilgal the twelve stones, which they had taken from the trough of (the) Jordan.

21 And he said to the sons of Israel, When your sons shall ask tomorrow their fathers, and shall say to them, What will these stones be mean(ing)? (And he said to the Israelites, When your sons and daughters shall ask their fathers tomorrow, and shall say to them, What mean ye by these stones?)

22 ye shall teach them, and say, We passed this Jordan by the dry bottom, (ye shall teach them, and say, We crossed over the Jordan River on dry land,)

23 for our Lord God dried the waters thereof in our sight, till that we over-passed it, as he did before in the Red Sea, which he dried while we passed [over], (for the Lord our God dried up its waters before us, until we had crossed over it, like he did before at the Sea of Reeds, which he dried up so we could cross over it,)

24 that all the peoples of (the) earth learn, or know, (of) the full strong might of the Lord, and that ye dread your Lord God in all time. (so that all the peoples of the earth can learn, or come to know, of the strong might, or the powerful hand, of the Lord, and so that ye shall fear the Lord your God forevermore/and so that ye shall revere the Lord your God forevermore.)

Joshua 4:17-24 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.