Yehoshua 4-5

Orthodox Jewish Bible

4 And it came to pass, when Kol HaGoy had completely passed over the Yarden, that Hashem spoke unto Yehoshua, saying,

² Take you Shneym Asar Anashim out of HaAm, out of every Shevet an ish,

³ And command ye them, saying, Take you from here out of the middle of the Yarden, out of the place where the feet of the Kohanim stood firm, twelve avanim (stones), and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the malon (lodging place), where ye shall lodge halailah (tonight).

⁴ Then Yehoshua called the Shneym Asar Ish, whom he had prepared of the Bnei Yisroel, out of every tribe an Ish;

⁵ And Yehoshua said unto them, Pass over before the Aron Hashem Eloheichem into the middle of the Yarden, and take you up every ish of you an even (stone) upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the Shivtei Bnei Yisroel;

⁶ That this may be an ot among you, that when your banim ask in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these avanim?

⁷ Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of the Yarden were cut off from before the Aron Brit Hashem; when it passed over the Yarden, the waters of the Yarden were cut off; and these avanim shall be for a zikaron (memorial) unto the Bnei Yisroel ad olam (forever).

⁸ And the Bnei Yisroel did so just as Yehoshua commanded, and took up Shtei Esreh Avanim out of the middle of the Yarden, just as Hashem spoke unto Yehoshua, according to the number of the Shivtei Bnei Yisroel, and carried them over with them unto the malon where they lodged, and laid them down there.

⁹ And Yehoshua set up Shteym Esreh Avanim in the middle of the Yarden, in the place where the feet of the Kohanim bearing the Aron HaBrit stood; and they are there unto this day.

¹⁰ For the Kohanim bearing the Aron stood in the middle of the Yarden, until everything was finished that Hashem commanded Yehoshua to speak unto HaAm, according to all that Moshe commanded Yehoshua; and HaAm hurried and crossed over.

¹¹ And it came to pass, when Kol HaAm had completely crossed over, that the Aron Hashem crossed over, and the Kohanim, ahead of HaAm.

¹² And the Bnei Reuven, and the Bnei Gad, and the half-tribe of Menasheh, crossed over armed ahead of the Bnei Yisroel, just as Moshe directed them;

¹³ About forty thousand, battle-ready, crossed over before Hashem for milchamah, to the plains of Yericho.

¹⁴ On Yom Hahu Hashem magnified Yehoshua in the eyes of Kol Yisroel; and they feared him, just as they feared Moshe, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ And Hashem spoke unto Yehoshua, saying,

¹⁶ Command the Kohanim bearing the Aron HaEdut, so that they come up out of the Yarden.

¹⁷ Yehoshua therefore commanded the Kohanim, saying, Come ye up out of the Yarden.

¹⁸ And it came to pass, when the Kohanim bearing the Aron Brit Hashem were come up out of the middle of the Yarden, and the soles of the feet of the Kohanim were set on dry land, that the waters of the Yarden returned unto their place, and overflowed all its banks, as they did before.

¹⁹ And HaAm came up out of the Yarden on the tenth day of the chodesh harishon, and camped at Gilgal, by the eastern border of Yericho.

²⁰ And those twelve avanim, which they took out of the Yarden, did Yehoshua set in a pile at Gilgal.

²¹ And he spoke unto the Bnei Yisroel, saying, When your banim shall ask their avot in time to come, saying, What mean these avanim?

²² Then ye shall let your banim know, saying, Yisroel crossed over this Yarden on yabashah (dry land [Gn 1:9]).

²³ For Hashem Eloheichem dried up the waters of the Yarden from before you, until ye were passed over, just as Hashem Eloheichem did to Yam Suf, which He dried up from before us, until we were crossed over;

²⁴ So that Kol Ammei HaAretz (all the peoples of the earth) might know the Yad Hashem, that it is chazakah; so that ye might fear Hashem Eloheichem kol hayamim (all the days, forever).

5 And it came to pass, when all the melachim of the HaEmori, which were beyond the Yarden westward, and all the melachim of the Kena’ani, which were by the Yam, heard that Hashem had dried up the waters of the Yarden from before the Bnei Yisroel, until they had passed over, their levav sank, neither was there ruach in them any more, because of the Bnei Yisroel.

² At that time Hashem said unto Yehoshua, Make thee knives of flint, and do a second time the Bris Milah to the Bnei Yisroel.

³ And Yehoshua made him flint knives, and did Bris Milah to the Bnei Yisroel at Givat HaAralot.

⁴ And this is the reason why Yehoshua did the Bris Milah: Kol HaAm that came out of Mitzrayim, that were zekharim (males), even Kol Anshei HaMilchamah, died in the midbar baderech, after they came out of Mitzrayim.

⁵ Now Kol HaAm that came out were Mulim (circumcised); but Kol HaAm that were born in the midbar baderech when they came forth out of Mitzrayim, them they had not given Bris Milah.

⁶ For the Bnei Yisroel walked arba’im shanah in the midbar, until Kol HaGoy that were Anshei HaMilchamah, which came out of Mitzrayim, were consumed, because they obeyed not the Kol Hashem (voice of Hashem); unto whom Hashem swore that He would not show them HaAretz, which Hashem swore unto their Avot that He would give us, Eretz zavat cholov u’devash.

⁷ And their banim, whom He raised up in their place, them Yehoshua gave Bris Milah; for they were arelim (uncircumcised), because they had not given them Bris Milah baderech.[See Ep 2:11 OJBC.]

⁸ And it came to pass, when they had done giving Bris Milah to Kol HaGoy, that they abode in their places in the machaneh, until they were chayyah (healed, whole, restored alive).

⁹ And Hashem said unto Yehoshua, This day galloti (have I rolled away) the reproach of Mitzrayim from off you. Therefore the shem of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.

¹⁰ And the Bnei Yisroel encamped at Gilgal, and observed the Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month at erev in the plains of Yericho.

¹¹ And they did eat of the produce of HaAretz on the day after the Pesach, on that very day, matzot, and roasted grain.

¹² And the manna ceased on the following day after they had eaten of the produce of HaAretz; neither had the Bnei Yisroel manna any more; but they did eat of the increase of Eretz Kena’an that year.

¹³ And it came to pass, when Yehoshua was there by Yericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, hinei, there stood an ish in front of him with his cherev drawn in his yad; and Yehoshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

¹⁴ And he said, Lo (no); but as Sar Tze’va Hashem am I now come. And Yehoshua fell on his face to the ground, and did prostrate himself, and said unto him, What saith Adoni unto his eved?

¹⁵ And the Sar Tze’va Hashem said unto Yehoshua, Take off thy sandals from off thy feet; for the makom whereon thou standest is kodesh. And Yehoshua did so.