1And it came to pass when all the people had completely passed over the Jordan, the LORD spoke to Joshua saying, 2"Take twelve men for you out of the people, a man out of every tribe, 3And command them saying, 'Take twelve stones from here, out of the middle of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm. And you shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the place where you shall stay tonight. ' " 4Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had prepared from the children of Israel, a man out of every tribe. 5And Joshua said to them, "Pass over in front of the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. And every man take a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6So that this may be a sign to you when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?' 7Then you shall answer them, 'The waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever. ' "

8And the children of Israel did as Joshua commanded. And they took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they stayed, and laid them down there; 9Even the twelve stones Joshua lifted up in the middle of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant, stood. And they are there to this day; 10For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished, all that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hurried and passed over. 11And it came to pass, when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the LORD and the priests passed over before the people. 12And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed in front of the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them; 13About forty thousand armed men of the army passed over before the LORD to battle to the plains of Jericho.

14On that day the LORD made Joshua great in the sight of all Israel. And they feared him, even as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

15And the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, 16"Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony that they come up out of the Jordan." 17Joshua, therefore, commanded the priests saying, "Come up out of the Jordan." 18And it came to pass, when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, the soles of the feet of the priests were lifted up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as before.

19And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, were raised by Joshua in Gilgal. 21And he spoke to the children of Israel saying, "When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?' 22Then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel came over this Jordan on dry land,' 23For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you until you had passed over, even as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea which He dried up from before us until we had gone over; 24So that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty and so that you might fear the LORD your God forever."