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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Joshua 4 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/joshua/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/joshua/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Joshua 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../joshua/3.htm" title="Joshua 3">◄</a> Joshua 4 <a href="../joshua/5.htm" title="Joshua 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/joshua/4.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Memorials to the Jordan Crossing</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the LORD your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the LORD had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all of the LORD’s commands that Moses had given to Joshua were carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>And when everyone was safely on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark of the LORD as the people watched.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>These armed men—about 40,000 strong—were ready for battle, and the LORD was with them as they crossed over to the plains of Jericho.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>That day the LORD made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>The LORD had said to Joshua, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> to come up out of the riverbed.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>So Joshua gave the command. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant came up out of the riverbed and their feet were on high ground, the water of the Jordan returned and overflowed its banks as before.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/joshua/4-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the LORD’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the LORD your God forever.”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">4:16 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">Ark of the Testimony.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">4:19 </span><span class="ft">This day in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in late March, April, or early May.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">4:23 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">sea of reeds.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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