Joshua 5
Expanded Bible
5 All the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and the Canaanite kings living by the ·Mediterranean Sea [L Sea] heard that the Lord dried up the Jordan River until the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] had crossed it. ·After that they were scared [L Their hearts melted] and ·too afraid to face [L there was no breath/spirit in them because of] the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel].
The Israelites Are Circumcised
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make knives from flint stones and circumcise [Gen. 17:7–14] the ·Israelites [L sons of Israel a second time].” 3 So Joshua made knives from flint stones and circumcised the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] at ·Gibeath Haaraloth [C Hebrew for “Hill of Foreskins”].
4 This is why Joshua circumcised the men: After the Israelites left Egypt, all the men old enough to serve in the army died in the desert on the ·way [journey] ·out of [or after leaving] Egypt. 5 The men who had come out of Egypt had been circumcised, but none of those who were born in the desert on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised. 6 The ·Israelites [L sons/T children 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 [L land flowing with milk and honey; C a 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.
9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have ·removed [rolled away] the shame [disgrace; reproach] of ·your slavery in Egypt [L Egypt].” So that place was named Gilgal [C sounds like Hebrew for “rolled away”; 4:19], which it is still named today.
10 The ·people [L sons/T children] of Israel were camped at Gilgal [4:19] on the plains of Jericho. It was there, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, they celebrated the Passover Feast [Ex. 12]. 11 The day after the Passover, the people ate food grown on that land: ·bread made without yeast [unleavened bread] and roasted grain. 12 The day they ate this food, the manna stopped coming [Ex. 16:35]. The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] no longer got the manna from heaven. They ate the food grown in the land of Canaan that year.
13 Joshua was near Jericho when he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a sword in his hand [Ex. 3:2—4:17; Judg. 6:11–23]. Joshua went to him and asked, “Are you ·a friend or an enemy [L for us or for our enemies/adversaries]?”
14 The man answered, “·I am neither [L No]. I have come as the commander of the Lord’s army [C God himself who comes as a warrior; Ex. 15:3].”
Then Joshua bowed facedown on the ground and asked, “Does my ·master [lord] have a ·command [message] for me, his servant?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army answered, “Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy [Ex. 3:5].” So Joshua did.
Joshua 5
The Voice
5 When the kings of the Amorites, who lived in the hills west of the Jordan, and the kings of the Canaanite cities on the plain by the sea heard how the Eternal had dried up the waters of the Jordan so the Israelites could cross, they were alarmed, and their courage failed at the thought of the advancing Israelites.
2 At that time, the Eternal One commanded Joshua to make flint knives and reinstate the rite of circumcision for male Israelites. 3 So Joshua made flint knives as he was told to do, and the Israelite males were circumcised at Gibeath-haaraloth.[a] 4-5 This is because all of the male Israelites who had fled from Egypt and all their soldiers who had fought so bravely had been circumcised, but they had died on the long journey. And those who had been born during the journey had not yet been circumcised.
Circumcision—the ritual removal of a male’s foreskin, usually in infancy—is one of the ways God tells His people to distinguish themselves from those around them. This rite is carried out at this point in the story to reconfirm the Israelites’ identity as God’s people and to prepare them for the greatest celebration that marks them as God’s people—the Passover—which commemorates God bringing them safely out of slavery in Egypt.
6 The Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and because they would not listen to the voice of the Eternal, God promised that none of the original community would live to enter the land He promised to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 It was their children and grandchildren whom He raised up to receive that land instead. Joshua circumcised those sons and grandsons now because it had not been done previously. 8 When they all had been circumcised, they remained in their camp until their wounds were healed.
9 It was here, where they had piled up the stones, that the Eternal spoke to Joshua.
Eternal One: On this day I have rolled away from you the shame of Egypt.
And the place is called Gilgal, which means “circle of stones,” even today.
10 While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the desert plain east of Jericho, they celebrated their first Passover on the evening of the 14th of the month in the land the Lord had promised them; 11 and the next day they ate some produce of the land, roasted grain, and flatbread. 12 Beginning after that Passover, the Israelites were no longer fed with manna, as they were in the desert. From the day they ate from the new land, the manna ceased. From then on they ate only the crops of the land of Canaan.
13 Now when Joshua was traveling near the city of Jericho, he saw a man standing in front of him with a sword drawn and ready.
Joshua (stepping toward him): Are you one of us, or are you one of our enemies?
The Man: 14 Neither; I am here now as commander of the Eternal’s army.
Joshua (falling to the ground): What is your command for your servant, my lord?
The Man: 15 Take off your sandals, for you are on holy ground.
So Joshua did.
Footnotes
- 5:3 Literally, hill of foreskins
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.