4:3a-b

The Berean Standard Bible uses a direct quote. In some languages it may be more natural to use an indirect quote. For example, you could say:

Command them to take twelve stones

4:3a

and command them: The Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as command them is imperative. It means that God commanded Joshua to give a command (4:3b-e) to the group of men he chose.

4:3b

Take up for yourselves twelve stones: The phrase Take up for yourselves twelve stones means that each of the twelve men must pick up one stone.

stones: These would have been large stones, about as large as a single person could carry.

from the middle of the Jordan: The phrase from the middle of the Jordan indicates that the men must take stones from the place where the priests were standing. The priests were standing in the middle of the Jordan river. The water had stopped flowing when the priests entered the water, which allowed the people to walk across the bottom of the (dry) river bed (see 3:17b-c). The men were supposed to take the twelve rocks from the bottom of the river from that same area. Here are some other ways to translate these verse part:

Take twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan (Good News Translation)
-or-
Tell them to get twelve rocks from the middle of the river (New Century Version)

4:3c

where the priests were standing: The Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as where the priests were standing is more literally “the firm standing place of the feet of the priests.” The twelve men picked up the stones while the priests were still standing in the middle of the river. Another way to translate this is:

from right where the priests are standing (New International Version)

where: The Hebrew word translated as where emphasizes that the men must pick up stones from the exact place where the priests are standing. Another way to show this emphasis would be:

from the very place where the priests’ feet stood (Revised Standard Version)

4:3d

carry them with you: The phrase carry them with you means that each man must carry the stone he picked up, and take it to the other side of the river.

4:3e

and set them down: The phrase set them down means that each man is to put his rock down on the ground.

in the place where you spend the night: The phrase in the place where you spend the night indicates the place where they were to put down the stones.

spend the night: The phrase spend the night means that the Israelites lived in that place for a short time (probably a few days or weeks).

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