What Does Joshua 4:20 Mean?
And those twelve stones, which they lifted out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.THE KEY
The stones are taken from beneath the water and made to stand: what was crossed becomes a witness that can be seen and asked about.
THE MEANING
What you carry out of a constricted passage does not have to remain beneath it; it can stand in plain sight as a witness. The stones keep the passage available for questions and retelling, while the name Gilgal carries the sound of what is rolled away. Movement from constriction toward wholeness leaves something visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that what you have passed through should stay buried and become meaningless once you have crossed it.
THE ROOT
הֵקִים
heqim
GROWS FROM
קום
qum
Rise or stand; in this verb form, cause to stand, set up, or establish.
“set up” in this verse is heqim. The Hebrew verb says Joshua made the stones stand. The memorial is established upright: passage through the water becomes something visible and enduring.
ALSO GROWS
qum: Rise; stand.
קוּם
The stones are made to stand as a lasting witness.
heqim: Set up; establish.
הֵקִים
This is the verb used for Joshua setting the stones in place.
maqom: Place; a location.
מָקוֹם
A place is where something stands, and here the stones give the crossing a visible location.
הָאֲבָנִים
ha'avanim
GROWS FROM
אבן
even
Stone: a solid piece that can mark, support, or build.
The form אֶבֶן (even, stone) contains אָב (av, father) and בֵּן (ben, son), with the bet held in common. These stones hold the fathers’ crossing in a form their children can question, giving shared passage a shape that outlasts the moment.
ALSO GROWS
avanim: Stones; the plural form used here.
אֲבָנִים
The twelve stones gather the crossing into a visible marker.
even pinnah: Cornerstone.
אֶבֶן פִּנָּה
A stone can hold a structure in place, just as these stones hold a memory in place.
גִּלְגָּל
Gilgal
GROWS FROM
גלל
galal
Roll; roll away.
Gilgal’s name carries the root גלל (galal, roll). Joshua 5:9 makes the sound explicit: the reproach of Egypt is rolled away, so the stones stand where what clings from constriction is released.
ALSO GROWS
galal: Roll; roll away.
גָּלַל
Joshua 5:9 uses this root for the reproach rolled away at Gilgal.
galgal: Wheel; something that rolls.
גַּלְגַּל
The rolling motion echoes in the place-name Gilgal.
THE PATTERN
A tangible sign carries a moment’s meaning forward so it can be remembered and shared.
That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in the days to come, saying, What are these stones to you?Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, the stone of help, saying, Hitherto the LORD has helped us.And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the taunt of Egypt from off you. Therefore the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.The name Gilgal carries the root גלל (galal, roll away), and this verse makes the connection explicit: reproach is rolled away. The stones stand where release is named, so the crossing marks what no longer clings.
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