And Jehovah said to Joshua, On this day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, I will be with you.

And you shall command the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant, saying, When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.

Then Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come here and hear the words of Jehovah your God.

And Joshua said, By this you will know that the living God is in your midst, and that He will most certainly dispossess before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites.

The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is now crossing over before you into the Jordan.

Therefore now take twelve men for yourselves out of the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.

And when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the Ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of the Jordan; the waters of the Jordan, the waters that flow down from upstream, will be cut off, and they will stand in a heap.

And so it happened that when the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were before the people.

And when those who carried the Ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who carried the Ark dipped into the edge of the water (now the Jordan overflowed all its banks throughout all the days of the harvest),

The waters that flowed down from upstream stood and rose up in a heap a great distance away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that flowed down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people crossed over from opposite Jericho.

And the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel was crossing over on dry ground, until all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan.

And when all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan, Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying,

Take for yourselves twelve men from among the people, one man from each tribe;

And command them, saying, Take up for yourselves from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones; and bring them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.

So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from among the children of Israel, one man from each tribe.

And Joshua said to them, Pass on before the Ark of Jehovah your God into the middle of the Jordan, and every one of you lift up one stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel,

That this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you?

You shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. Thus these stones will be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

And the children of Israel did as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as Jehovah told Joshua to do, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel. And they brought them over with them to the place where they were to lodge, and they laid them down there.

Then Joshua erected twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.