Tree of Life Version
Joshua 4:6
6Let this be a sign among you. When your children ask later saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
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
4Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from Bnei-Yisrael, one man from each tribe. 5Joshua said to them, “Cross over before the ark of Adonai your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you, lift up a stone on his shoulder, for the number of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael. Let this be a sign among you. When your children ask later saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7then you will say to them: ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Adonai—when it crossed the Jordan—the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones will be a reminder to Bnei-Yisrael forever.” 8So Bnei-Yisrael did so, as Joshua commanded. They lifted twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as Adonai had said to Joshua, for the number of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael. Then they carried them over with them to the lodging place and put them down 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 witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, so that we may do the service of Adonai before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices and with our fellowship offerings. Then your children may not say to our children in times to come. “You have no share in Adonai!”’
- Exodus 12:14“This day is to be a memorial for you. You are to keep it as a feast to Adonai. Throughout your generations you are to keep it as an eternal ordinance.
- Exodus 13:9So it will be like a sign on your hand and a reminder between your eyes, so that the Torah of Adonai may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand Adonai has brought you out of Egypt.
- Exodus 31:13“Speak now to Bnei-Yisrael saying, ‘Surely you must keep My Shabbatot, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so you may know that I am Adonai who sanctifies you.
- Numbers 16:38As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be taken and hammered into sheets as a covering for the altar. For they were presented before Adonai, so they are holy. They are to be a sign to Bnei-Yisrael.”
- Isaiah 55:13Instead of the thorn bush, a cypress will come up, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to Adonai, as an everlasting sign that will never be cut off.”
- Ezekiel 20:12I also gave them My Shabbatot, as a sign between Me and them, so that they would know that I am Adonai who made them holy.
- Joshua 4:21Then he said to Bnei-Yisrael saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come saying: ‘What are these stones?’
- Exodus 12:26Now when it happens that your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’
- Exodus 13:14“So when your son asks you in times to come, ‘What is this?’ say to him, ‘By a strong hand Adonai brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage,
- Deuteronomy 6:20“When your son asks you in time to come, saying ‘What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Adonai our God commanded you?’
- Deuteronomy 11:19You are to teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up.
- Psalms 44:1For the music director, a psalm of the sons of Korah, a contemplative song.
- Psalms 71:18So even until I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, till I tell of Your strong arm to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.
- Psalms 78:3which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
- Isaiah 38:19The living, the living—they praise You— as I do today. A father makes Your faithfulness known to his children.
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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