Twelve Stones from the Jordan
And it was, when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, that the LORD said to Joshua, saying:
“Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man, one man from each tribe,
and command them, saying: Lift for yourselves from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones; and carry them over with you, and set them down in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.”
And Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man, one man from each tribe.
And Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you lift up one stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel,
so that this may be a sign in your midst. When your children ask tomorrow, saying, ‘What are these stones to you?’
then you shall say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD — when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”
And the sons of Israel did so, as Joshua commanded. They lifted twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the lodging place, and set them down there.
And twelve stones Joshua set up in the middle of the Jordan, under the place where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.
And the priests carrying the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until every word was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hurried and crossed over.
And it was, when all the people had finished crossing, that the ark of the LORD crossed over, with the priests, before the people.
And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the sons of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them —
about forty thousand equipped for war crossed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.
On that day the LORD made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel; and they feared him as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.
And the LORD said to Joshua, saying:
“Command the priests carrying the ark of the testimony, and let them come up from the Jordan.”
And Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.”
And it was, when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the middle of the Jordan — the soles of the priests’ feet were drawn up onto the dry ground — that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and went, as before, over all its banks.
The Camp at Gilgal
And the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and they camped at Gilgal, on the eastern edge of Jericho.
And those twelve stones that they took from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.
And he said to the sons of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers tomorrow, saying, ‘What are these stones?’
then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘On dry land Israel crossed this Jordan.’
For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Sea of Reeds, which he dried up from before us until we had crossed over —
so that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is strong; so that you may fear the LORD your God all the days.”