Single lesson

Crossing the Jordan and the Memorial Stones

Joshua 3:1–4:24

This lesson helps children follow the order of Joshua 3:1 to 4:24, identify the choices people were told to make, and notice the outcomes God brought about at the Jordan and through the memorial stones.

6–10 years30 minutes

Before you teach

Israel came to the Jordan and camped before crossing. Officers told the people to follow the ark at a distance because they had not gone this way before. Joshua told them to prepare, and the passage explains both the crossing and the memorial stones set up afterwards.

Learning aim

Students will be able to sequence the main events in Joshua 3:1 to 4:24, identify choices in the passage such as following the ark, keeping distance, sanctifying themselves, the priests stepping into the Jordan, and taking the stones, and match those choices with outcomes named in the text.

Welcome: What helps us remember?

5 min

Show a small stone and ask children what objects help people remember important things. Explain that in this passage, twelve stones were used as a sign and memorial. Tell the class they will listen for what happened first, what the people were told to do, and why the stones mattered later.

Joshua 4:6, Joshua 4:7, Joshua 4:20

Read and explain: Following the ark into the Jordan

8 min

Read selected verses from Joshua 3. Point out the order: the people camped, the officers gave instructions, the people were to follow the ark but not come too close, and Joshua said Yahweh would do wonders. Then the priests carried the ark first and stood in the Jordan as commanded.

Joshua 3:1, Joshua 3:3, Joshua 3:4, Joshua 3:5, Joshua 3:6, Joshua 3:8

Discuss: Match choices and outcomes

6 min

Explain that the Jordan was overflowing at harvest, so this was a serious crossing. Make two columns called Actions and Results. Help children sort what people were told to do and what happened next: follow the ark and keep distance, sanctify themselves, priests step into the water, and all Israel crosses on dry ground. Notice that the stones were also taken for future questions and teaching.

Joshua 3:3, Joshua 3:4, Joshua 3:5, Joshua 3:13, Joshua 3:15, Joshua 3:16, Joshua 3:17, Joshua 4:3, Joshua 4:6, Joshua 4:7, Joshua 4:22, Joshua 4:24

Make and respond: Twelve-stone memorial

7 min

Children make a simple memorial picture or arrange twelve small paper squares or stones in order while you retell the event. Include the reason given in the passage: when children ask about the stones later, the people were to explain that Yahweh cut off the Jordan so Israel crossed on dry land.

Joshua 4:3, Joshua 4:5, Joshua 4:6, Joshua 4:7, Joshua 4:22, Joshua 4:23

Closing: What the stones taught

4 min

Finish by reading Joshua 4:24. Summarise that the passage says the crossing showed Yahweh’s mighty hand, taught Israel to fear Yahweh, and gave them a way to tell future children what God had done. Invite each child to say one choice from the story and one outcome that followed.

Joshua 4:14, Joshua 4:20, Joshua 4:21, Joshua 4:24

Questions to explore

Why were the people told to follow the ark and keep a space between themselves and it?

Look for the reason given in the command: they had not passed this way before, so the ark showed the way.

Joshua 3:3, Joshua 3:4

What happened when the priests did what Joshua said and stepped into the Jordan?

Notice the sequence in the verses: the river was overflowing, then the waters were cut off and the priests stood on dry ground until the nation crossed.

Joshua 3:13, Joshua 3:15, Joshua 3:16, Joshua 3:17

Why were twelve stones taken from the Jordan, and what were God’s people meant to say about them later?

The answer is given in Joshua 4: the stones were a sign and memorial so children could be told that Israel crossed the Jordan on dry land and that Yahweh’s hand is mighty.

Joshua 4:3, Joshua 4:6, Joshua 4:7, Joshua 4:22, Joshua 4:23, Joshua 4:24

Make, think or respond

Twelve Stones Story Line

What you’ll need

12 small stones or paper squares
markers
A4 paper or table space
Bible

Try it together

Place twelve stones or paper squares in a line.
As you retell the passage, pause for children to name key steps such as camping, following the ark, priests stepping in, crossing on dry ground, and setting up stones.
Write one short word or draw a small symbol near groups of stones to mark the story order.
Ask children to practise explaining to a partner what the stones meant according to Joshua 4:6 to 4:7 and 4:21 to 4:23.

This activity matches the passage because the twelve stones were set up as a sign and memorial so later generations could ask and be taught what Yahweh had done.

Adapt for your group

For younger children, reduce the retelling to four steps and let them hold one stone each while the class orders the story.
For older or more confident children, ask them to find and read the exact verses that explain both the crossing and the purpose of the memorial stones.

An optional closing prayer

Dear God, thank you for leading your people across the Jordan on dry ground. Please help us remember what you have done and speak truthfully about you to others. Amen.

Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic

Joshua 3

¹ Joshua got up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They camped there before they crossed over.

² After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp;

³ and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of Yahweh your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it.

⁴ Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure—don’t come closer to it—that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵ Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you.”

⁶ Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

⁷ Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

⁸ You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ”

⁹ Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God.”

¹⁰ Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.

¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.

¹² Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.

¹³ It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”

¹⁴ When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people,

¹⁵ and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),

¹⁶ the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho.

¹⁷ The 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.

Joshua 4

¹ When all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan, Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,

² “Take twelve men out of the people, a man out of every tribe,

³ 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.’ ”

⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, a man out of every tribe.

⁵ Joshua said to them, “Cross before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

⁶ that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in the future, saying, ‘What do you mean by these stones?’

⁷ then you shall tell them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of Yahweh’s covenant. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.’ ”

⁸ The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as Yahweh 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.

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.

¹⁰ For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished that Yahweh commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over.

¹¹ When all the people had completely crossed over, Yahweh’s ark crossed over with the priests in the presence of the people.

¹² The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.

¹³ About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war, passed over before Yahweh to battle, to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴ On that day, Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,

¹⁶ “Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, that they come up out of the Jordan.”

¹⁷ Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up out of the Jordan!”

¹⁸ When the priests who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet had been lifted up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.

¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.

²⁰ Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.

²¹ He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’

²² Then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

²³ For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you until you had crossed over, as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had crossed over,

²⁴ that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh’s hand is mighty, and that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.’ ”

World English Bible Classic. Public domain.