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Joshua 3-4

Stones from the Jordan

Lyrics · Joshua

Stones from the Jordan

Joshua 3-4

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Stones from the Jordan

Joshua 3-4

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About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the Joshua collection. 8 recordings are available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
Joshua
Collection
Joshua
[Opening Build] Priests at the river. Ark on their shoulders. Jordan ran high In the season of overflow. Feet touched the water. The current stood backward. A road opened dry Where no road used to go. [Chorus] Carry twelve stones from the Jordan, One for each tribe that came through. Set them where children will ask you, "What do these stones mean to you?" Tell them the waters were severed, Tell them the ark led the way. Stones from the Jordan remember The hand of the Lord in that day. [Verse] All Israel crossed on the riverbed, Families, warriors, cattle ahead. Priests held their place in the middle and stayed Till every command and crossing was made. Joshua raised stones where their feet had stood, Then called the twelve men as appointed and good. When soles left the channel and stepped on the shore, The flood filled the banks as it had before. [Final Chorus] Carry twelve stones from the Jordan, Build memory firm into land. Egypt had heard of the Red Sea; Canaan would learn of His hand. Let every nation acknowledge, Let every heart fear and obey. Stones from the Jordan remember The road that was opened that day.

Named in this songArkJordanJoshuaEgyptRed SeaCanaan

About the passage

Joshua 3: The ark stands where the river should be

Israel reaches Jordan at flood stage and is told to follow the ark while keeping enough distance to see where it leads. The crossing is prepared as a holy event, but also as a public sign with several meanings. God says it will begin to establish Joshua before Israel, while Joshua says it will show that the living God is among them and will give the land. The ark belongs to "the Lord of all the earth," so the river is treated as no barrier to divine authority. When the priests' feet enter the overflowing water, the flow stops upstream and the people cross on dry ground opposite Jericho. The priests remain in the riverbed with the ark until everyone is safely over. The chapter's great image is therefore not frantic movement but a fixed centre: the ark standing where the river should be while the entire nation passes around it.

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Joshua 4: The river closes, but the evidence stays

The crossing immediately becomes a problem of memory. Twelve men, one from each tribe, carry stones from the riverbed so future children can ask what they mean, while Joshua also sets stones where the priests stood. The memorial is designed to make later generations ask for an explanation, not to replace explanation. Meanwhile, the crossing is completed in the same ordered way it began. The eastern tribes fulfill their promise by crossing armed, Joshua is publicly magnified before Israel, the ark comes up only after the people are over, and the river returns when the priests' feet reach dry ground. At Gilgal, the stones are given two audiences. Israel's children are to know how the nation crossed Jordan, and the peoples of the earth are to know the might of the LORD's hand. The water closes, but the evidence is meant to keep speaking.

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