New Living Translation
Joshua 4:6
6We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
Joshua 4:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
- New International Version (NIV)to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
- English Standard Version (ESV)that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, 'What do those stones mean to you?'
- New King James Version (NKJV)that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
Context of Joshua 4:6
4So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. 5He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” 8So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.
Read all of Joshua 4Joshua 4:6 word by word
לְמַ֗עַן תִּֽהְיֶ֛ה זֹ֥את א֖וֹת בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֑ם כִּֽי־יִשְׁאָל֨וּן בְּנֵיכֶ֤ם מָחָר֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר מָ֛ה הָאֲבָנִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לָכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Joshua 4:6
- Joshua 22:27but as a memorial. It will remind our descendants and your descendants that we, too, have the right to worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings. Then your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no claim to the Lord.’
- Exodus 12:14“This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time.
- Exodus 13:9This annual festival will be a visible sign to you, like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of the Lord: ‘With a strong hand, the Lord rescued you from Egypt.’
- Exodus 31:13“Tell the people of Israel: ‘Be careful to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation. It is given so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
- Numbers 16:38Take the incense burners of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, and hammer the metal into a thin sheet to overlay the altar. Since these burners were used in the Lord’s presence, they have become holy. Let them serve as a warning to the people of Israel.”
- Isaiah 55:13Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”
- Ezekiel 20:12And I gave them my Sabbath days of rest as a sign between them and me. It was to remind them that I am the Lord, who had set them apart to be holy.
- Joshua 4:21Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’
- Exodus 12:26Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’
- Exodus 13:14“And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery.
- Deuteronomy 6:20“In the future your children will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of these laws, decrees, and regulations that the Lord our God has commanded us to obey?’
- Deuteronomy 11:19Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.
- Psalms 44:1O God, we have heard it with our own ears— our ancestors have told us of all you did in their day, in days long ago:
- Psalms 71:18Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.
- Psalms 78:3stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us.
- Isaiah 38:19Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.
Commentaries on Joshua 4:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6This may be a sign - Stand as a continual memorial of this miraculous passage, and consequently a proof of their lasting obligation to God.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6Joshua told the Israelites two times to get ready to explain to future generations. The stone memorial would help teach them (4:21).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 6-76-7. That this may be a sign among you--The erection of cairns, or huge piles of stones, as monuments of remarkable incidents has been common among all people, especially in the early and rude periods of their history. They are the established means of perpetuating the memory of important transactions, especially among the nomadic people of the East. Although there be no inscription engraved on them, the history and object of such simple monuments are…Read the comment
Topics related to Joshua 4:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Joshua 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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