Josué 4

BLIVRE · Chapter 4/24

¹E quando toda a nação acabou de passar o Jordão, o SENHOR falou a Josué, dizendo:

²Tomai do povo doze homens, de cada tribo um,

³E mandai-lhes, dizendo: Tomai-vos daqui do meio do Jordão, do lugar de onde estão firmes os pés dos sacerdotes, doze pedras, as quais passareis convosco, e as assentareis no alojamento de onde haveis de passar a noite.

⁴Então Josué chamou aos doze homens, os quais ele havia ordenado dentre os filhos de Israel, de cada tribo um;

⁵E disse-lhes Josué: Passai diante da arca do SENHOR vosso Deus ao meio do Jordão; e cada um de vós tome uma pedra sobre seu ombro, conforme ao número das tribos dos filhos de Israel;

⁶Para que isto seja sinal entre vós; e quando vossos filhos perguntarem a seus pais amanhã, dizendo: “Que vos significam estas pedras?”

⁷Então vós lhes respondereis: “As águas do Jordão foram interrompidas diante da arca do pacto do SENHOR; quando ela passou pelo Jordão, as águas do Jordão se separaram; e estas pedras serão por memorial aos filhos de Israel para sempre.

⁸E os filhos de Israel o fizeram assim como Josué havia lhes mandado, e levantaram doze pedras do meio do Jordão, como o SENHOR havia dito a Josué, conforme o número das tribos dos filhos de Israel; e levaram-nas consigo ao alojamento, e ali as puseram.

⁹Josué também levantou doze pedras no meio do Jordão, no lugar onde estiveram os pés dos sacerdotes que levavam a arca do pacto; e ali estão até hoje.

¹⁰Pois os sacerdotes que levavam a arca ficaram parados no meio do Jordão, até que se cumpriu tudo o que o SENHOR havia mandado a Josué dizer ao povo, conforme tudo quanto Moisés havia ordenado a Josué; e o povo apressou-se e passou.

¹¹E sucedeu quando todo o povo acabou de passar, então passaram a arca do SENHOR, e os sacerdotes, na presença do povo.

¹²Também os filhos de Rúben, os filhos de Gade, e a meia tribo de Manassés, passaram armados diante dos filhos de Israel, como Moisés havia lhes dito;

¹³cerca de quarenta mil homens prontamente armados passaram ó diante do SENHOR para a batalha, às campina de Jericó.

¹⁴Naquele dia o SENHOR engrandeceu Josué à vista de todo Israel; e temeram-no, como haviam temido a Moisés, todos os dias de sua vida.

¹⁵E o SENHOR falou a Josué, dizendo:

¹⁶“Manda os sacerdotes que levam a arca do testemunho, que subam do Jordão”.

¹⁷E Josué mandou os sacerdotes, dizendo: “Subi do Jordão”.

¹⁸E aconteceu que quando os sacerdotes que levavam a arca do pacto do SENHOR subiram do meio do Jordão, e as plantas dos pés dos sacerdotes estiveram em seco, as águas do Jordão voltaram ao seu lugar, correndo como antes sobre todas as suas margens.

¹⁹E o povo subiu do Jordão no dia dez do mês primeiro, e assentaram o acampamento em Gilgal, ao lado oriental de Jericó.

²⁰E Josué erigiu em Gilgal as doze pedras que haviam trazido do Jordão.

²¹E falou aos filhos de Israel, dizendo: Quando amanhã perguntarem vossos filhos a seus pais, e disserem: Que vos significam estas pedras?

²²Declarareis a vossos filhos, dizendo: Israel passou em seco por este Jordão.

²³Porque o SENHOR vosso Deus secou as águas do Jordão diante de vós, até que havíeis passado, à maneira que o SENHOR vosso Deus o havia feito no mar Vermelho, ao qual secou diante de nós até que passamos:

²⁴Para que todos os povos da terra conheçam a mão do SENHOR, que é forte; para que temais 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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