And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day. Joshua set up twelve stones ... in the place where the feet of the priests ... stood. In addition to the memorial just described, there was another memento of the miraculous event, a duplicate of the former, set up in the river itself, on the very spot where the ark had rested. This heap of stones might have been a large and compactly-built one, and visible in the ordinary state of the river. Since nothing is said whence these stones were obtained, some have imagined that they might have been gathered in the adjoining fields, and deposited by the people as they passed the appointed spot. [Kennicott proposes here to follow the Syriac version in reading mitowk (H8432), from the midst, instead of bªtowk (H8432), intimating that there was only one set of stones-namely, that taken from the mid channel of the river. This suggested emendation, however, is not supported by manuscripts authority; and the Septuagint says expressly, allous (G243) doodeka (G1427) lithous (G3037), other twelve stones.]
They are there unto this day - at least twenty years after the event, if we reckon by the date of this history (Joshua 24:26); and much later, if the words in the latter clause were inserted by Samuel or Ezra.