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you will tell them how the waters of the Jordan parted as the covenant chest of the Eternal One crossed the river, and these stones will fix that memory for the Israelites forever.

Memory is important in the Book of Joshua and in the stories that follow. When the people of Israel remember God’s promises—and His goodness—good things happen. But when they forget, they turn to other things for meaning; they put their trust in other gods—money, power, position, and possessions. It’s been a problem for the people of God up to the present day, so these attempts to remember can remind us about God’s great works. It has always been true that when God’s people take their eyes off Him, they forget the lessons of the past. We honor God through our worship, and we are reminded of significant lessons learned when we praise Him.

The Israelites did as the Eternal commanded through Joshua. They carried twelve stones from the riverbed that day, one for each Israelite tribe, and laid them down that night when they made their camp. Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan where the priests who had carried the covenant chest stood, and the stones remain there to this day.

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tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off(A) before 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 memorial(B) to the people of Israel forever.”

So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones(C) from the middle of the Jordan,(D) according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua;(E) and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones(F) that had been[a] in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 4:9 Or Joshua also set up twelve stones