Joshua 5
Christian Standard Bible
Circumcision of the Israelites
5 When all the Amorite kings across the Jordan to the west and all the Canaanite kings near the sea(A) heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over,(B) they lost heart and their courage failed because of the Israelites.
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again.”(C) 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelite men at Gibeath-haaraloth.[a] 4 This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males—all the men of war—had died in the wilderness along the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out were circumcised, none of the people born in the wilderness along the way were circumcised after they had come out of Egypt. 6 For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the Lord.(D) So the Lord vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.(E) 7 He raised up their sons in their place; it was these Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way. 8 After the entire nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.(F) 9 The Lord then said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” Therefore, that place is still called Gilgal[b] today.(G)
Food from the Land
10 While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.(H) 11 The day after Passover they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.(I) 12 And the day after they ate from the produce of the land, the manna ceased.(J) Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Commander of the Lord’s Army
13 When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.(K) Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of the Lord’s army.”(L)
Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in homage(M) and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his servant?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”(N) And Joshua did that.
Joshua 5
Contemporary English Version
5 The Amorite kings west of the Jordan River and the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea lost their courage and their will to fight, when they heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River to let Israel go across.
Israel Gets Ready To Celebrate Passover
2 While Israel was camped at Gilgal, the Lord said, “Joshua, make some flint knives[a] and circumcise the rest of the Israelite men and boys.”[b]
3 Joshua made the knives, then circumcised those men and boys at Haaraloth Hill.[c] 4-7 (A) This had to be done, because none of Israel's baby boys had been circumcised during the 40 years that Israel had wandered through the desert after leaving Egypt.
And why had they wandered for 40 years? It was because right after they left Egypt, the men in the army had disobeyed the Lord. And the Lord had said, “None of you men will ever live to see the land that I promised Israel. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and someday your children will live there, but not before you die here in the desert.”
8 Everyone who had been circumcised needed time to heal, and they stayed in camp.
9 The Lord told Joshua, “It was a disgrace for my people to be slaves in Egypt, but now I have taken away that disgrace.” So the Israelites named the place Gilgal,[d] and it still has that name.
10 (B) Israel continued to camp at Gilgal in the desert near Jericho, and on the fourteenth day of the same month,[e] they celebrated Passover.
11-12 (C) The next day, God stopped sending the Israelites manna[f] to eat each morning, and they started eating food grown in the land of Canaan. They ate roasted grain[g] and thin bread[h] made of the barley they had gathered from nearby fields.
Israel Captures Jericho
13 One day, Joshua was near Jericho when he saw a man standing some distance in front of him. The man was holding a sword, so Joshua walked up to him and asked, “Are you on our side or on our enemies' side?”
14 “Neither,” he answered. “I am here because I am the commander of the Lord's army.”
Joshua fell to his knees and bowed down to the ground. “I am your servant,” he said. “Tell me what to do.”
15 “Take off your sandals,” the commander answered. “This is a holy place.”
So Joshua took off his sandals.
Footnotes
- 5.2 flint knives: Flint is a stone that can be chipped until it forms a very sharp edge.
- 5.2 circumcise … men and boys: They could not celebrate Passover unless they were circumcised (see Exodus 12.43-49).
- 5.3 Haaraloth Hill: Or “Foreskin Hill.”
- 5.9 Gilgal: In Hebrew “Gilgal” sounds like “take away.”
- 5.10 the same month: See the note at 4.19.
- 5.11,12 manna: The special food that God provided for the Israelites while they were in the desert for 40 years. It was about the size of a small seed, and it appeared on the ground during the night, except on the Sabbath. It was gathered early in the morning, ground up, and then baked or boiled (see Exodus 16.13-36; Numbers 11.4-9).
- 5.11,12 roasted grain: Roasted grain was made by cooking the grain in a dry pan or on a flat rock, or by holding a bunch of grain stalks over a fire.
- 5.11,12 thin bread: Bread made without yeast. Israelites were not supposed to eat bread made with yeast for the week following Passover. That week is called the Festival of Thin Bread (see Exodus 12.14-20; 13.3-7).
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