Chapter 4
1 After Israel had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua:
2 Joshua chose twelve men; then he called them together
3 and said: Go to the middle of the riverbed where the sacred chest is, and pick up a large rock. Carry it on your shoulder to our camp. There are twelve of you, so there will be one rock for each tribe.
4 The men followed the instructions that the Lord had given Joshua. They picked up twelve rocks, one for each tribe, and carried them to the camp, where they put them down.
5 Joshua set up a monument next to the place where the priests were standing. This monument was also made of twelve large rocks, and it is still there in the middle of the river.
6 The priests stayed right where they were until the people had followed the orders that the Lord had given Moses and Joshua. Then they watched as the priests carried the chest the rest of the way across.
7 That’s how the Lord showed the Israelites that Joshua was their leader. For the rest of Joshua’s life, they respected him as they had respected Moses.
8 It was the tenth day of the first month of the year when Israel crossed the Jordan River. They set up camp at Gilgal, which was east of the land controlled by Jericho.
9 The men who had carried the twelve rocks from the Jordan brought them to Joshua, and they made them into a monument.
10 Then Joshua told the people: Years from now your children will ask you why these rocks are here.
11 because he wants everyone on earth to know how powerful he is. And he wants us to worship only him."