1When all the people had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD spoke to Joshua. He said,
2"Choose twelve men from among the people, one man from each tribe."
3"Command them and say, 'Take up twelve stones from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm. Carry them over with you, and set them down in the place where you stay tonight.'"
4Then Joshua called the twelve men he had chosen from the children of Israel, one man from each tribe.
5Joshua said to them, "Go over in front of the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the tribes of the children of Israel."
6"This will be a sign among you. In time to come your children will ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean to you?'"
7"Then you will answer them, 'The waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.' These stones will be a memorial to the children of Israel for ever."
8The children of Israel did just as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD had told Joshua, one for each of the tribes of the children of Israel. They carried them over to the place where they stayed, and laid them down there.
9Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. They are there to this day.
10The priests who carried the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to say to the people, just as Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried and crossed over.
11When all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the LORD crossed over too, with the priests, in front of the people.
12The children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed, ahead of the children of Israel, just as Moses had told them.
13About forty thousand men, ready for war, crossed over before the LORD to the battle, to the plains of Jericho.
14On that day the LORD made Joshua great in the sight of all Israel. They respected him with fear, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.
15The LORD spoke to Joshua. He said,
16"Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan."
17So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan."
18The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up out of the middle of the Jordan. As soon as the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, the waters of the Jordan came back to their place, and flowed over all its banks as they had done before.
19The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. They camped in Gilgal, on the eastern edge of Jericho.
21He said to the children of Israel, "In time to come your children will ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?'"
22"Then you will let your children know, and say, 'Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.'"
23"For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of you, until you had crossed over. He did the same to the Red sea, which he dried up in front of us until we had gone over."
24"He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you might fear the LORD your God for ever."