Josué 4

ARC · Chapter 4/24

¹Succedeu pois que, acabando todo o povo de passar o Jordão, fallou o Senhor a Josué, dizendo:

²Tomae-vos do povo doze homens, de cada tribu um homem;

³E mandae-lhes, dizendo: Tomae-vos d'aqui, do meio do Jordão, do logar do assento dos pés dos sacerdotes, doze pedras; e levae-as comvosco á outra banda e depositae-as no alojamento em que haveis de passar esta noite.

⁴Chamou pois Josué os doze homens, que escolhera dos filhos d'Israel: de cada tribu um homem;

⁵E disse-lhes Josué: Passae diante da arca do Senhor vosso Deus, ao meio do Jordão; e levantae vós cada um uma pedra sobre o seu hombro, segundo o numero das tribus dos filhos de Israel;

⁶Para que isto seja por signal entre vós; e quando vossos filhos no futuro perguntarem, dizendo: Que vos significam estas pedras?

⁷Então lhes direis que as aguas do Jordão se separaram diante da arca do concerto do Senhor; passando ella pelo Jordão, separaram-se as aguas do Jordão: assim que estas pedras serão para sempre por memorial aos filhos de Israel.

⁸Fizeram pois os filhos d'Israel assim como Josué tinha ordenado, e levantaram doze pedras do meio do Jordão, como o Senhor dissera a Josué, segundo o numero das tribus dos filhos de Israel: e levaram-n'as comsigo ao alojamento, e as depositaram ali.

⁹Levantou Josué tambem doze pedras no meio do Jordão, do logar do assento dos pés dos sacerdotes, que levavam a arca do concerto: e ali estão até ao dia d'hoje.

¹⁰Pararam pois os sacerdotes, que levavam a arca, no meio do Jordão, em pé, até que se cumpriu quanto o Senhor a Josué mandara dizer ao povo, conforme a tudo quanto Moysés tinha ordenado a Josué; e apressou-se o povo, e passou.

¹¹E succedeu que, assim que todo o povo acabou de passar, então passou a arca do Senhor, e os sacerdotes á vista do povo.

¹²E passaram os filhos de Ruben, e os filhos de Gad, e a meia tribu de Manasseh, armados na frente dos filhos d'Israel, como Moysés lhes tinha dito;

¹³Uns quarenta mil homens de guerra armados passaram diante do Senhor para batalha, ás campinas de Jericó.

¹⁴N'aquelle dia o Senhor engrandeceu a Josué diante dos olhos de todo o Israel: e temeram-n'o, como haviam temido a Moysés, todos os dias da sua vida.

¹⁵Fallou pois o Senhor a Josué, dizendo:

¹⁶Dá ordem aos sacerdotes, que levam a arca do testemunho, que subam do Jordão.

¹⁷E deu Josué ordem aos sacerdotes, dizendo: Subi do Jordão.

¹⁸E aconteceu que, como os sacerdotes, que levavam a arca do concerto do Senhor, subiram do meio do Jordão, e as plantas dos pés dos sacerdotes se pozeram em secco, as aguas do Jordão se tornaram ao seu logar, e corriam, como antes, sobre todas as suas ribanceiras.

¹⁹Subiu pois o povo do Jordão no dia dez do mez primeiro: e alojaram-se em Gilgal, da banda oriental de Jericó.

²⁰E as doze pedras, que tinham tomado do Jordão, levantou Josué em Gilgal.

²¹E fallou aos filhos d'Israel, dizendo: Quando no futuro vossos filhos perguntarem a seus paes, dizendo: Que significam estas pedras?

²²Fareis saber a vossos filhos, dizendo: Israel passou em secco este Jordão.

²³Porque o Senhor vosso Deus fez seccar as aguas do Jordão diante de vós, até que passasseis: como o Senhor vosso Deus fez ao Mar Vermelho, que fez seccar perante nós, até que passámos.

²⁴Para que todos os povos da terra conheçam a mão do Senhor, que é forte: para que temaes ao Senhor vosso Deus todos os dias.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Twelve men, one from each tribe, take twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan and set them up at Gilgal as a memorial. Joshua also places twelve stones in the riverbed.

Explanation

Stone monuments were the ancient way of preserving collective memory before writing was common among ordinary people. The twelve stones, one for each tribe, ensured that future generations would ask, 'What do these stones mean?' and hear the story of the Jordan miracle. This teaching device - physical objects that spark questions and instruction - appears several times in the Bible (such as the Passover and the Lord's Supper). Today's application is the importance of creating tangible memories and markers of God's work in family life, so that faith passes on from generation to generation.

Fun facts

Gilgal, where the stones were set up, later became a central place of Israelite worship in the following centuries, mentioned repeatedly in Judges and 1 Samuel.
The practice of raising stone memorials to remember God's acts is repeated with Samuel in 1 Samuel 7:12, when he sets up the stone called Ebenezer.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Josué 4:1As soon as all the people finish crossing the Jordan, God gives Joshua the next instruction: create a memorial of the crossing before the miracle is forgotten.
Josué 4:2God calls for twelve men, one representative from each tribe, to take part in a symbolic act that will mark this day forever.
Josué 4:3The task is to take twelve stones from the exact spot where the priests stood in the river, and carry them to the camp on the other side.
Josué 4:4Joshua summons the twelve men already chosen, one from each tribe, to carry out the mission of the stones.
Josué 4:5Each of them is instructed to go into the middle of the dry riverbed and carry a stone on his shoulder, representing his own tribe.
Josué 4:6The twelve stones taken from the middle of the Jordan become a memorial marker, not an altar for sacrifice: their purpose is that, generations later, the children will ask what they mean and the parents will explain the crossing on dry ground. It is the same pattern used with other memorials from the Exodus.
Josué 4:7The explanation to be given to future generations is straightforward: these stones recall the day the Jordan stopped flowing before the ark of God.
Josué 4:8The twelve men obey to the letter: they take the stones from the middle of the river and carry them to the camp, just as God had commanded.
Josué 4:9Joshua also sets up twelve stones inside the riverbed itself, a second memorial that no one would see once the waters started flowing again. It stayed there, underwater, as a testimony that only someone who knew the story could recall.
Josué 4:10The priests remain standing in the river, holding the ark, until every instruction is carried out and all the people finish hurrying across.
Josué 4:11Only after all the people have crossed do the ark and the priests cross last, in full view of everyone.
Josué 4:12The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh keep what they had promised Moses: they cross over armed, ahead of the others, ready to fight.
Josué 4:13About forty thousand armed men cross the river toward the plains of Jericho, ready for the confrontation to come.
Josué 4:14This day publicly cements Joshua’s authority: the people come to respect him just as they respected Moses.
Josué 4:15God keeps giving Joshua instructions even after the crossing is complete.
Josué 4:16The order now is for the priests, still standing in the middle of the river with the ark, to finally come up out of the water.
Josué 4:17Joshua passes God’s order directly to the priests: it is time to come up out of the Jordan.
Josué 4:18The instant the priests set foot on dry ground, the river returns to its normal flow, as if nothing had happened.
Josué 4:19The date is recorded precisely — the tenth day of the first month — and the people camp at Gilgal, already within sight of Jericho.
Josué 4:20It is at Gilgal that Joshua sets up the twelve stones taken from the river, creating the monument that will commemorate the crossing.
Josué 4:21Joshua anticipates that in the future the children will ask about the meaning of those stones — and he already teaches the right answer.
Josué 4:22The answer the parents are to give is simple and direct: tell them that Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.
Josué 4:23The comparison is deliberate: the same God who opened the Red Sea on the way out of Egypt has now opened the Jordan on the way into the promised land.
Josué 4:24The purpose of the monument reaches beyond Israel: it is so that all peoples may know the power of God, and so that the people themselves may learn to fear Him always.

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