Joshua 5
New King James Version
The Second Generation Circumcised
5 So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites (A)who were by the sea, (B)heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until [a]we had crossed over, that [b]their heart melted; (C)and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make (D)flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at [c]the hill of the foreskins. 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: (E)All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. 5 For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. 6 For the children of Israel walked (F)forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were [d]consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord—to whom the Lord swore that (G)He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, (H)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” 7 Then Joshua circumcised (I)their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.
8 So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp (J)till they were healed. 9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away (K)the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called (L)Gilgal[e] to this day.
10 Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover (M)on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. 11 And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and [f]parched grain, on the very same day. 12 Then (N)the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.
The Commander of the Army of the Lord
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, (O)a Man stood opposite him (P)with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”
And Joshua (Q)fell on his face to the earth and (R)worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”
15 Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, (S)“Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Footnotes
- Joshua 5:1 So with Kt.; Qr., some Heb. mss. and editions, LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. they
- Joshua 5:1 their courage failed
- Joshua 5:3 Heb. Gibeath Haaraloth
- Joshua 5:6 destroyed
- Joshua 5:9 Lit. Rolling
- Joshua 5:11 roasted
Joshua 5
New International Reader's Version
5 All the Amorite and Canaanite kings heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River. They heard how he had dried it up for the Israelites until they had gone across it. The Amorite kings lived west of the Jordan. The kings of Canaan lived along the Mediterranean Sea. When all those kings heard what the Lord had done, they were terrified. They weren’t brave enough to face the Israelites anymore.
Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make knives out of flint. Use them to circumcise the men of Israel.” 3 So Joshua made knives out of flint. Then he used them to circumcise the men of Israel at Gibeath Haaraloth.
4 Here is why Joshua circumcised them. All the men who came out of Egypt had died. They died while they were wandering through the Sinai Desert. They were the men old enough to serve in the army. 5 All the men who came out had been circumcised. But all the men born in the desert during the journey from Egypt hadn’t been circumcised. 6 The Israelites had moved around in the desert for 40 years. By the end of that time all the men old enough to serve in the army when they left Egypt had died. That’s because they hadn’t obeyed the Lord. He had made a promise to them. He had told them they wouldn’t see the land. It’s the land he had promised to their people to give us. It’s a land that has plenty of milk and honey. 7 Because they hadn’t obeyed him, he raised up their sons to take their place. They were the ones Joshua circumcised. They hadn’t been circumcised yet. That’s because no one had circumcised them during the journey. 8 So Joshua circumcised all those men. The whole nation remained in the camp until the men were healed.
9 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua. He said, “Today I have taken away from you the shame of being slaves in Egypt.” That’s why the place where the men were circumcised has been called Gilgal to this very day.
10 The Israelites celebrated the Passover Feast. They observed it on the evening of the 14th day of the month. They did it while they were camped at Gilgal on the plains around Jericho. 11 The day after the Passover, they ate some of the food grown in the land. On that same day they ate grain that had been cooked. They also ate bread made without yeast. 12 The manna stopped coming down the day after they ate the food grown in the land. The Israelites didn’t have manna anymore. Instead, that year they ate food grown in Canaan.
Israel Captures Jericho
13 When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him. The man was holding a sword. He was ready for battle. Joshua went up to him. He asked, “Are you on our side? Or are you on the side of our enemies?”
14 “I am not on either side,” he replied. “I have come as the commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua fell with his face to the ground. He asked the man, “What message does my Lord have for me?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals. The place you are standing on is holy ground.” So Joshua took them off.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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