¹It happened, as all the nation finished passing over the Jordan, that Yahweh said to Joshua, saying:

²Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man per tribe.

³And command them, saying: Lift up for yourselves from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from the standing-place of the priests' feet, firmly set, twelve stones; and you shall carry them over with you, and set them down in the lodging-place where you will lodge there for the night.

⁴Joshua called to the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man per tribe.

⁵Joshua said to them: Cross over before the face of the ark of Yahweh your God, into the middle of the Jordan, and lift high for yourselves, each man, one stone onto his shoulder, by the number of the tribes of the children of Israel,

⁶so that this may be a sign in your midst. When your sons ask in time to come, saying: What are these stones to you?

⁷You shall say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off from the face of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall become a memorial for the children of Israel forever.

⁸So the children of Israel did as Joshua commanded: they lifted up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as Yahweh had spoken to Joshua, by the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the lodging-place and set them down there.

⁹And Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, under the standing-place of the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant; and they have been there until this day.

¹⁰And the priests who carried the ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan until every word that Yahweh commanded Joshua to speak to the people was finished, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over.

¹¹It happened, when all the people had finished crossing over, that the ark of Yahweh crossed over, and the priests, before the face of the people.

¹²The children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half of the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the face of the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them.

¹³About forty thousand armed men of the host crossed over before the face of Yahweh for the battle, to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴On that day Yahweh made great Joshua in the eyes of all Israel, and they feared him, as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

¹⁵Yahweh said to Joshua, saying:

¹⁶Command the priests who carry the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan.

¹⁷Joshua commanded the priests, saying: Come up from the Jordan.

¹⁸It happened, as the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came up from the middle of the Jordan, that the soles of the priests' feet were pulled free onto the dry ground, and the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went as yesterday and the day before over all its banks.

¹⁹The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and camped at Gilgal, on the eastern end of Jericho.

²⁰And Joshua set up in Gilgal these twelve stones that they had taken from the Jordan.

²¹He said to the children of Israel, saying: When your sons ask their fathers in time to come, saying: What are these stones?

²²You shall make known to your sons, saying: Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry ground.

²³that Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before your face until you had crossed, just as Yahweh your God did to the sea of reeds, which he dried up from before our face until we had crossed over,

²⁴so that all the peoples of the land may know that the hand of Yahweh is mighty, and so that you may fear Yahweh your God all the days.