4:9a

Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan: There is an interpretation issue in this verse.

(1) Joshua set up the twelve stones in the middle of the river at the place where the priests stood with the ark. This was a second monument. For example:

Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan (NET Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, NET Bible, Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, God’s Word, New American Bible, New American Standard Bible, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, King James Version)

(2) Joshua set up the twelve stones at their campsite. These are the stones that the twelve men carried up out of the middle of the Jordan River. They do not refer to a separate monument. For example:

Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan (New International Version)

(New International Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Nearly all English versions and most commentaries understand it this way.

It is most likely that Joshua had some people build the monument for him. You may want to make this explicit. For example:

Joshua had some other men set up a monument (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Joshua also had twelve stones set up (New American Bible)
-or-
Joshua had the men place another set of twelve stones

also: The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as also does not indicate that the next action in the story is about to take place. Verse 4:9 is a parenthetical comment. It may be more natural in some languages to use a word such as “and.” For example:

And Joshua set up twelve stones (Revised Standard Version)

4:9b

in the place where the priests: The Hebrew is literally “in the place where the feet of the priests.” It may be more natural in some languages to make the words “the feet of” explicit.

who carried the ark of the covenant stood: The phrase who carried the ark of the covenant indicates that the priests were holding the ark of the covenant while they stood in the middle of river.

It may be more natural in some languages to rearrange the phrases. For example:

where the priests had stood while carrying the Ark of the Agreement (New Century Version)

It is also possible to leave this phrase implicit if that is more natural in your language. For example:

the place where the priests were standing (Contemporary English Version)

4:9c

And the stones are there to this day: The phrase the stones are there to this day means that the stones were still in the river at the time that the author wrote the book of Joshua.

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