Bible Strands
Joshua 4:6
to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Joshua instructs the twelve men who retrieved stones from the Jordan bed to arrange them as a permanent marker. He addresses the assembled Israelites immediately after the tribe crosses the river on dry ground.
The words — א֖וֹת ('ot) means a sign, and יִשְׁאָל֨וּ (yish.'a.lu) means they will ask. The text establishes that a physical object must provoke a verbal inquiry from future generations.
The thread — This pattern appears in Exodus 13:14, Joshua 4:21, and Psalm 44:1. Each passage links a tangible memorial to a mandated explanation of God's historical acts.
Why it lands — The verse requires believers to treat physical reminders as tools for teaching rather than static relics. It demands that each generation actively interpret past divine interventions for those who did not witness them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
Cross-references
- Exodus 13:14 In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Joshua 4:21 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’
- Psalms 44:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
- Deuteronomy 6:20 In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?”
- Deuteronomy 11:19 Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
- Joshua 22:27 Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’
- Exodus 12:26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
- Psalms 71:18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.
- Psalms 78:3 that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
- Isaiah 38:19 The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.