Joshua 4:22
in Joshua 4you are to tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
KJV
Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
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This verse in Joshua 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Then Joshua said to the Israelites
on Joshua 4:21-24
Verse 23 says the sea was dried “before us”, though the men who crossed were dead by Numbers 26:64, so the nation is one body. Clarke reads “all the peoples of the earth” narrowly of that land, and others take it as wide as it sounds.
This site's exposition
Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground
The answer opens with one short line a child can repeat. Gill reads the command as a duty to give children the whole history the stones stand for, including how the crossing was brought about. Clarke draws from it the duty of parents to teach their children religion early.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Then ye shall let your children know,.... The meaning of the erection of these stones, acquaint them with the whole history, the meaning of which they are designed to perpetuate: saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land; and if they should ask how that could possibly be done, or if they did not, they were to inform them by what means it was brought about, as follows.
According to these orders the thing was done. Twelve stones were taken up out of the midst of Jordan, and carried in the sight of the people to the place where they had their head-quarters that night,
They must let their children know that Jordan was driven back before Israel, who went through it upon dry land, and that this was the very place where they passed over.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The pile was designed to serve a double purpose--that of impressing the heathen with a sense of the omnipotence of God, while at the same time it would teach an important lesson in religion to the young and rising Israelites in after ages.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Then ye shall let your children know - The necessity of an early religious education is inculcated through the whole oracles of God. The parents who neglect it have an awful account to give to the Judge of quick and dead.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהוֹדַעְתֶּ֖ם | vehoda'tem | and you will make known to | H3045 → | 945 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֵיכֶ֣ם | beneikhem | children your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לֵאמֹ֑ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בַּיַּבָּשָׁה֙ | baiyabashah | on the dry ground | H3004 → | |
| עָבַ֣ר | ʾavar | it passed over | H5674 → | 556 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן | haiyarden | the Jordan | H3383 → | 182 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
וְהוֹדַעְתֶּ֖םand you will make known to
vehoda'temH3045 →945 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנֵיכֶ֣םchildren your
beneikhemH1121 →4930 times
לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
בַּיַּבָּשָׁה֙on the dry ground
baiyabashahH3004 →
עָבַ֣רit passed over
ʾavarH5674 →556 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ןthe Jordan
haiyardenH3383 →182 times
הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joshua 3:17The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over the dry ground, until the entire nation…
it leads to
- Exodus 14:22
and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 14:29
But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.
- Psalms 66:6
He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot; there we rejoiced in Him.
- Isaiah 25:8
He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken.
- 2 Kings 2:8
And Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
- Exodus 14:22
Through
Isaiah 51:10Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:16
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters,
- Isaiah 50:2
Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold,…
- Isaiah 63:11–12
Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His…
- Isaiah 43:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Joshua
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.