Lectionary Calendar
Monday, August 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Joshua 4:20

They carried with them the twelve rocks taken from the Jordan, and Joshua set them up at Gilgal.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Instruction;   Stones;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Jordan, the River;   Pillars;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Gilgal;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Elisha;   Gilgal;   Jordan;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Pilgrimage;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Gilgal;   God;   Jericho;   Joshua;   Quarry;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Gilgal;   Jordan ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Gilgal;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Gil'gal;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Conquest of Canaan;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gerizim, Mount;   Images;   Joshua (2);   Joshua, Book of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Stone and Stone-Worship;   Tagin;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan,
Hebrew Names Version
Those twelve stones, which they took out of the Yarden, did Yehoshua set up in Gilgal.
King James Version
And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.
Lexham English Bible
And those twelve stones that they took from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
English Standard Version
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.
New English Translation
Now Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.
Amplified Bible
And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
New American Standard Bible
As for those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set them up at Gilgal.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Also the twelue stones, which they tooke out of Iorden, did Ioshua pitch in Gilgal.
Legacy Standard Bible
And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.
Contemporary English Version
The men who had carried the twelve rocks from the Jordan brought them to Joshua, and they made them into a monument.
Complete Jewish Bible
Those twelve stones which they took out of the Yarden, Y'hoshua piled up at Gilgal.
Darby Translation
And those twelve stones which they had taken out of the Jordan did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Easy-to-Read Version
They carried with them the twelve rocks that they had taken from the Jordan River, and Joshua set them up at Gilgal.
George Lamsa Translation
And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan. Joshua set up at Gilgal.
Good News Translation
There Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan.
Literal Translation
And the twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan were raised up in Gilgal by Joshua.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And ye twolue stones which they had taken out of Iordane, dyd Iosua set vp at Gilgall,
American Standard Version
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Bible in Basic English
And the twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, Joshua put up in Gilgal.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the twelue stones whiche they toke out of Iordane, dyd Iosuah pitch in Gilgal.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
King James Version (1611)
And those twelue stones which they tooke out of Iordan, did Ioshua pitch in Gilgal.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Joshua set these twelve stones which he took out of Jordan, in Galgala,
English Revised Version
And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Berean Standard Bible
And there at Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also Josue puttide in Galgalis the twelue stonys, whiche thei hadden take fro the trow of Jordan.
Young's Literal Translation
and these twelve stones, which they have taken out of the Jordan, hath Joshua raised up in Gilgal.
Update Bible Version
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Webster's Bible Translation
And those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
World English Bible
Those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
New King James Version
And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
New Living Translation
It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.
New Life Bible
Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.
New Revised Standard
Those twelve stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, these twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up, in Gilgal.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the twelve stones, which they had taken out of the channel of the Jordan, Josue pitched in Galgal,
Revised Standard Version
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

Contextual Overview

20 They carried with them the twelve rocks taken from the Jordan, and Joshua set them up at Gilgal. 21 Then he spoke to the Israelites: "In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these rocks mean?' 22 Tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry land. 23 The Lord your God caused the water to stop flowing until you finished crossing it, just as the Lord did to the Red Sea. He stopped the water until we crossed it. 24 The Lord did this so all people would know he has great power and so you would always respect the Lord your God.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Joshua 4:3, Joshua 4:8

Reciprocal: Genesis 31:46 - Gather Exodus 24:4 - according Joshua 4:9 - and they are there Joshua 24:26 - set it Judges 3:19 - quarries 1 Samuel 7:12 - took a stone 1 Kings 18:31 - twelve stones Isaiah 19:20 - for a

Cross-References

Genesis 4:2
After that, Eve gave birth to Cain's brother Abel. Abel took care of flocks, and Cain became a farmer.
Genesis 4:4
Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift,
Genesis 4:5
but he did not accept Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and felt rejected.
Genesis 4:9
Later, the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain answered, "I don't know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?"
Genesis 4:10
Then the Lord said, "What have you done? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.
Genesis 4:11
And now you will be cursed in your work with the ground, the same ground where your brother's blood fell and where your hands killed him.
Genesis 4:12
You will work the ground, but it will not grow good crops for you anymore, and you will wander around on the earth."
Genesis 4:21
Jabal's brother was Jubal, the first person to play the harp and flute.
Genesis 25:27
When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter. He loved to be out in the fields. But Jacob was a quiet man and stayed among the tents.
John 8:44
You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning and was against the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he shows what he is really like, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan,.... The twelve men who were sent there for that purpose, and took them from thence, and brought them hither, Joshua 4:3;

did Joshua pitch in Gilgal; set them in rows, or one upon another, and made a pillar of them commemorative of their passage over Jordan into the land of Canaan: according to Josephus n, he made an altar of these stones; and Ben Gersom is of opinion, that they were placed in the sanctuary by the ark, though not in it; which yet was the sentiment of Tertullian o, but very improbable; since that ark was not capable of such a number of large stones; and it must be a very large ark or chest, if one could be supposed to be made on purpose for them; but it is most likely they were erected in form of a pillar or statue, in memory of this wonderful event, the passage of Israel over Jordan, see Joshua 4:7; they may be considered as emblems of the twelve apostles of Christ, and their ministrations and writings; their number agrees, and so does the time of their appointment to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel, which was after the resurrection of Christ, typified by the passage of Joshua over Jordan, and out of it; the name of one of them, and he a principal one, was Peter or Cephas, which signifies a stone; and all of them in a spiritual sense were lively stones, chosen and selected from others, and called by grace, and were very probably most, if not all of them, baptized in this very place, Bethabara, from whence these stones were taken; and were like them unpolished, as to external qualifications, not having an education, and being illiterate, but wonderfully fitted by Christ for his service; and were not only pillars, as James, Cephas, and John, but in some sense foundation stones; as they were the instruments of laying Christ ministerially, as the foundation of salvation, and of preaching the fundamental truths of the Gospel, in which they were constant and immovable; and their ministry and writings, their Gospels and epistles, are so many memorials of what Christ, our antitypical Joshua, has done for us in passing over Jordan's river, or through death; finishing thereby transgression and sin, obtaining peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation, opening the way to the heavenly Canaan, abolishing death, and bringing life and immortality to light.

n Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 4.) o Contr. Marcion. l. 4. c. 13.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 4:20. Those twelve stones — It is very likely that a base of mason-work was erected of some considerable height, and then the twelve stones placed on the top of it; and that this was the case both in Jordan and in Gilgal: for twelve such stones as a man could carry a considerable way on his shoulder, see Joshua 4:5, could scarcely have made any observable altar, or pillar of memorial: but erected on a high base of mason-work they would be very conspicuous, and thus properly answer the end for which God ordered them to be set up.


 
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