then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’;
Parallel translations
- WEB Then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
- KJV Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
- BSB you are to tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
- NASB then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’
- NLT Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Parents were to tell their children that Israel crossed the Jordan on dry land. The stones preserved the memory of this concrete miracle.
Overview
The answer to the children's question centers on a real, historical act of God. Faith here rests not on myth but on remembered deeds done in space and time. By rehearsing the crossing, each generation confessed that the same God who acted then is their God still.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Josh 3:17The priests who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.
- Isa 51:10Isn’t it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
- Isa 11:15–16Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals.
- Rev 16:12The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise.
- Isa 44:27who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’
- Exod 15:19For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.
- Exod 14:29But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
- Ps 66:5–6Come, and see God’s deeds — awesome work on behalf of the children of men.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 4:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.