1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,
2 "Choose twelve men from the people, one from each tribe,
3 and order them, 'Pick up twelve stones from right here in the middle of the Jordan, from the spot where the priests' feet stood firm. Carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you camp tonight.'"
4 So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the children of Israel, one from each tribe,
5 and said to them, "Go across ahead 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 tribe of the children of Israel.
6 This is to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask, 'What do these stones mean to you?'
7 tell them that 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 are to be a lasting memorial for the children of Israel."
8 The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded. They picked up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each tribe of the children of Israel, as the LORD had told Joshua. They carried them across to the camp and set them down there.
9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the spot where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had stood. They are still there today.
10 The priests carrying the ark kept standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell the people was done, just as Moses had instructed Joshua. The people hurried across,
11 and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over while the people watched.
12 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed at the head of the children of Israel, as Moses had told them.
13 About forty thousand men equipped for war crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho, ready for battle.
14 That day the LORD made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel, and they revered him all his life, as they had revered Moses.
15 The LORD said to Joshua,
16 "Order the priests carrying the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan."
17 So Joshua ordered the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan."
18 As soon as the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up out of the middle of the Jordan and the soles of their feet stepped onto dry ground, the waters of the Jordan went back to their place and overflowed all its banks as they had before.
19 It was on the tenth day of the first month that the people came up out of the Jordan and camped at Gilgal, on the eastern border of Jericho.
20 There at Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.
21 He said to the children of Israel, "In the future, when your children ask their fathers, 'What are these stones?'
22 you are to explain to your children, '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, just as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up in front of us until we had crossed,
24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know how strong the hand of the LORD is, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God."