Joshua 4:11-24

English Standard Version

¹¹ And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people. ¹² The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh ^(A)passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them. ¹³ About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. ¹⁴ On that day the Lord ^(B)exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Joshua, ¹⁶ “Command the priests bearing ^(C)the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁸ And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, ^(D)as before.

¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at ^(E)Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰ And ^(F)those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. ²¹ And he said to the people of Israel, ^(G)“When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² then you shall let your children know, ^(H)‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, ^(I)which he dried up for us until we passed over, ^24 (J)so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is ^(K)mighty, that you may ^(L)fear the Lord your God forever.”^[a]