Chapter 4

Memorial Stones. ¹ After the entire nation had completed the crossing of the Jordan, ² the Lord said to Joshua: Choose twelve men^(A) from the people, one from each tribe, ³ and command them, “Take up twelve stones from this spot in the Jordan riverbed where the priests have been standing.^(B) Carry them over with you, and place them where you are to stay tonight.”

⁴ Summoning the twelve men he had selected from among the Israelites, one from each tribe, ⁵ Joshua said to them: “Go to the Jordan riverbed in front of the ark of the Lord, your God; lift to your shoulders one stone apiece, so that they will equal in number the tribes of the Israelites. ⁶ In the future, these are to be a sign among you. When your children ask you,^[a] ‘What do these stones mean to you?’^{(C) 7} you shall answer them, ‘The waters of the Jordan ceased to flow before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it crossed the Jordan.’^(D) Thus these stones are to serve as a perpetual memorial to the Israelites.” ⁸ The twelve Israelites did as Joshua had commanded: they took up twelve stones from the Jordan riverbed as the Lord had said to Joshua, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites. They carried them along to the camp site, and there they placed them. ⁹ Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the Jordan riverbed on the spot where the priests stood who were carrying the ark of the covenant. They are there to this day.

⁴⁸ Laban said, “This mound will be a witness from now on between you and me.” That is why it was named Galeed—

⁵² This mound will be a witness, and this sacred pillar will be a witness, that, with hostile intent, I may not pass beyond this mound into your territory, nor may you pass beyond it into mine.

¹⁹ Now, write out this song^(A) for yourselves. Teach it to the Israelites and have them recite it, so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.

²¹ then, when great evil and distress befall them, this song will speak to them as a witness, for it will not be forgotten if their descendants recite it. For I know what they are inclined to do even at the present time, before I have brought them into the land which I promised on oath.