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Joshua 4:5

in Joshua 4

and said to them, “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of Jehovah your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

KJV

And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:

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This verse in Joshua 4

Commentary

2 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Damascene

ON DIVINE IMAGES 3.23 · Written before 749.

on Joshua 4:5-6

Images are of two kinds: either they are words written in a book … or else they are material images such as the twelve stones which he commanded to be taken from the Jordan for a second memorial (such a mystery, truly the greatest ever to befall the faithful people!) of the carrying of the ark and the parting of the waters. Therefore we now set up images in remembrance of valiant men, that we may zealously desire to follow their example.

This site's exposition

Joshua called the twelve men

on Joshua 4:4-7

Verse 6 gives the reason for the pile before the pile exists, that a child will ask what the stones mean and get told. The same shape is set down twice in the Torah, at Exodus 12:26 for the passover and Deuteronomy 6:20 for the statutes, and each time the question comes from the child and the answer is a piece of history rather than a rule. Israel is told to leave an object strange enough on that flat ground to make somebody ask.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לָהֶם֙to <the> them

    lahem

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֔עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • עִ֠בְרוּpass over

    ʾivruH5674 →556 times

  • לִפְנֵ֨י<to> before

    lifneiH6440 →2123 times

  • אֲר֧וֹן[the] ark of

    ʾaronH727 →202 times

  • יְהוָ֛הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֖םGod your

    ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • תּ֣וֹךְ[the] middle of

    tokhH8432 →418 times

  • הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ןthe Jordan

    haiyardenH3383 →182 times

  • וְהָרִ֨ימוּand take up

    veharimuH7311 →

  • לָכֶ֜םfor <the> yourselves

    lakhem

  • אִ֣ישׁeach

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • אֶ֤בֶןa stone

    ʾevenH68 →273 times

  • אַחַת֙one

    ʾachatH259 →971 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • שִׁכְמ֔וֹshoulder his

    shikhmoH7926 →

  • לְמִסְפַּ֖רto [the] number of

    lemisparH4557 →

  • שִׁבְטֵ֥י[the] tribes of

    shivteiH7626 →190 times

  • בְנֵי־[the] people of

    venei-H1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

1 in all, six open

About Joshua

The Walls of Jericho Fall Down, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Walls of Jericho Fall Down, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 4 →

This page draws on John Damascene, ON DIVINE IMAGES 3.23; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 4 →