Joshua 4 · a question people ask
Were there two sets of twelve stones, one at Gilgal and one in the river?
The chapter speaks of stones in two places. The twelve men "took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan" and "carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there" (4:8), and "Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal" (4:20). Between those verses comes 4:9: "Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day" (4:9). Christians read 4:9 in two main ways, each resting on verses. Both agree that the stones at Gilgal came from where the priests' feet stood (4:3, 4:20), and that they are the stones the children ask about: "What do these stones mean?" (4:21).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Two sets of stones
Those who hold this view read 4:9 as a second set: Joshua set up twelve stones "in the middle of the Jordan" (4:9), while the stones the men carried were set up "in Gilgal" (4:20). In Hebrew, 4:9 says "twelve stones" with no "the", while 4:20 says "those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan" (4:20). And 4:9 ends, "they are there to this day" (4:9): on this reading, stones stood in the riverbed where the priests had stood, as well as in the camp.
Joshua 4:9 · Joshua 4:20
One set of stones
Those who hold this view point out that the LORD commands one set of twelve stones (4:2-3), Joshua tells each man to pick up one stone (4:5), and the chapter gives one meaning for them (4:6-7, 4:21-22). The spot 4:9 names, "the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood" (4:9), is named with the same Hebrew word, matsav, in the command to take the stones: "out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm" (4:3) (tap place). On this reading 4:9 tells again of the twelve stones Joshua set up, naming the spot they came from.
Joshua 4:2-5 · Joshua 4:9 · Joshua 4:21-22
The verses
“and command them, saying, ‘Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you’ll camp tonight.’””
“The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel. They carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there. Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.”
“Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal. He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’”