Joshua 3:9-4:7

New International Version

⁹ Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ This is how you will know that the living God^(A) is among you^(B) and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites,^(C) Hivites, Perizzites,^(D) Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.^{(E) 11} See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth^(F) will go into the Jordan ahead of you.^{(G) 12} Now then, choose twelve men^(H) from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. ¹³ And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth^(I)—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream^(J) will be cut off^(K) and stand up in a heap.^(L)”

¹⁴ So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant^(M) went ahead^(N) of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan^(O) is at flood stage^(P) all during harvest.^(Q) Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing.^(R) It piled up in a heap^(S) a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan,^(T) while the water flowing down^(U) to the Sea of the Arabah^(V) (that is, the Dead Sea^(W)) was completely cut off.^(X) So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.^{(Y) 17} The priests^(Z) who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground,^(AA) while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.^(AB)

4 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan,^(AC) the Lord said to Joshua, ² “Choose twelve men^(AD) from among the people, one from each tribe, ³ and tell them to take up twelve stones^(AE) from the middle of the Jordan,^(AF) from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.^(AG)”

⁴ So Joshua called together the twelve men^(AH) he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, ⁵ and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan.^(AI) Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶ to serve as a sign^(AJ) among you. In the future, when your children^(AK) ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’^{(AL) 7} tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off^(AM) 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^(AN) to the people of Israel forever.”