Conquest of Canaan

Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.”

Joshua said, “Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.

Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.

Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.

It shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap.”

When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people,

and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),

the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over right against Jericho.

The priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.

When all the nation had completely passed over the Jordan, the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

“Take twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,

and command them, saying, ‘Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where you will lodge tonight.’”

Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man.

Joshua said to them, “Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do you mean by these stones?’

then you shall tell them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.’”

The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over.

When all the people had completely passed over, the LORD’s ark passed over, with the priests, in the presence of the people.

The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.

About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war passed over before the LORD to battle, to the plains of Jericho.

On that day, the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

The LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

“Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan.”