Joshua 4:3-9
4:3 Instruct them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests
stand firmly, and carry them over with you and put them in the place where you camp tonight.’”
4:4 Joshua summoned the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one per tribe.
4:5 Joshua told them, “Go in front of the ark of the Lord your God to the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to put a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the Israelite tribes.
4:6 The stones will be a reminder to you. When your children ask someday, ‘Why are these stones important to you?’
4:7 tell them how the water of the Jordan stopped flowing before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan stopped flowing. These stones will be a lasting memorial for the Israelites.”
4:8 The Israelites did just as Joshua commanded. They picked up twelve stones, according to the number of the Israelite tribes, from the middle of the Jordan as the Lord had instructed Joshua. They carried them over with them to the camp and put them there.
4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood. They remain there to this very day.
Joshua 4:20-24
4:20 Now Joshua set up in Gilgal the
twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.
4:21 He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’
4:22 explain
to your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan River
on dry ground.’
4:23 For the
Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you while you crossed over. It was just like when the
Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before us while we crossed it.
4:24 He has done this so
all the nations
of the earth might recognize the
Lord’s power
and so you might always obey
the
Lord your God.”
Genesis 28:18-22
28:18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it.
28:19 He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.
28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear,
28:21 and I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will become my God.
28:22 Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”