3 and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you, and set them up in the place where you will camp tonight.’ ”
4 So Joshua summoned the twelve men whom he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe.
5 And Joshua said to them, “Cross over before the ark of Yahweh your God to the middle of the Jordan, and each one of you lift up a stone on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
6 so that this may be a reminder among you. When your children ask in the future, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
7 you will say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off from before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones will be as a memorial for the Israelites for eternity.”
8 Thus the Israelites did as Joshua commanded. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan as Yahweh told Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, and they carried them over with them to the camp, and they put them there.
9 Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day.