6 that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?'
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
This may be a sign - Stand as a continual memorial of this miraculous passage, and consequently a proof of their lasting obligation to God.
That this may be a sign among you, [that] when your (c) children ask [their fathers] in time to come, saying, What [mean] ye by these stones?
(c) God commands that not only we ourselves profit by this wonderful work, but that our posterity may know the cause of it, and glorify his Name.
That this may be a sign among you,.... A commemorative one:
that when your children ask their fathers in time to come; or "tomorrow" (g) and so in all time, or any time hereafter:
saying, what mean you by these stones? what is the reason of setting them up, and in this place, and being just of such a number?
(g) Sept. "eras", Pagninus, Montanus.
That this may be a sign among you--The erection of cairns, or huge piles of stones, as monuments of remarkable incidents has been common among all people, especially in the early and rude periods of their history. They are the established means of perpetuating the memory of important transactions, especially among the nomadic people of the East. Although there be no inscription engraved on them, the history and object of such simple monuments are traditionally preserved from age to age. Similar was the purpose contemplated by the conveyance of the twelve stones to Gilgal: it was that they might be a standing record to posterity of the miraculous passage of the Jordan.
A sign - A monument or memorial of this day's work.
*More commentary available at chapter level.