⁶ The ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] had moved about in the ·desert [wilderness] for forty years. During that time all the fighting men who had left Egypt had died because they had not obeyed the Lord [Num. 13–14]. So the Lord swore they would not see the land he had promised their ancestors to give them, a ·fertile land [^Lland flowing with milk and honey; ^Ca phrase describing the natural bounty of the land]. ⁷ Their sons ·took [were raised up in] their places. But none of the sons born on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised, so Joshua circumcised them. ⁸ After all the Israelites had been circumcised, they stayed in camp until they were healed.