and tell them, 'From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.'"
Joshua directed them, "Cross to the middle of the Jordan and take your place in front of the Chest of GOD, your God. Each of you heft a stone to your shoulder, a stone for each of the tribes of the People of Israel,
you'll say, 'The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of GOD as it crossed the Jordan--stopped in its tracks. These stones are a permanent memorial for the People of Israel.'"
The People of Israel did exactly as Joshua commanded: They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan--a stone for each of the twelve tribes, just as GOD had instructed Joshua--carried them across with them to the camp, and set them down there.
Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the middle of the Jordan that had marked the place where the priests who carried the Chest of the Covenant had stood. They are still there today.
The priests carrying the Chest continued standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything GOD had instructed Joshua to tell the people to do was done (confirming what Moses had instructed Joshua). The people crossed; no one dawdled.
The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had crossed over in battle formation in front of the People of Israel, obedient to Moses' instructions.
They did it. The priests carrying GOD's Chest of the Covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan. As soon as the soles of the priests' feet touched dry land, the Jordan's waters resumed their flow within the banks, just as before.
"Yes, GOD, your God, dried up the Jordan's waters for you until you had crossed, just as GOD, your God, did at the Red Sea, which had dried up before us until we had crossed.