Joshua 5:2-9
New Living Translation
Israel Reestablishes Covenant Ceremonies
2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites.[a]” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.[b]
4 Joshua had to circumcise them because all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness. 5 Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of those born after the Exodus, during the years in the wilderness, had been circumcised. 6 The Israelites had traveled in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the Lord, and the Lord vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us—a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So Joshua circumcised their sons—those who had grown up to take their fathers’ places—for they had not been circumcised on the way to the Promised Land. 8 After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.
9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” So that place has been called Gilgal[c] to this day.
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Joshua 5:2-9
Common English Bible
Circumcision
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make yourself flint knives. Circumcise the Israelites for a second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives for himself. He circumcised the Israelites at Foreskins Hill. 4 This is the reason Joshua did so: All the people who went out of Egypt, that is, all the men who were soldiers, had died in the desert on the way after they left Egypt. 5 All the people who went out were circumcised. But none of the people born in the desert on the way after they had left Egypt had been circumcised. 6 This was because the Israelites journeyed forty years in the desert until the whole nation died off. These were the men old enough to fight who went out from Egypt and who hadn’t obeyed the Lord. The Lord had pledged to them never to show them the land that the Lord had pledged to their ancestors to give us. It is a land full of milk and honey. 7 Joshua circumcised their children, the ones the Lord had set in their place. They were uncircumcised because they hadn’t been circumcised on the way. 8 After the whole nation had undergone circumcision, they remained in the camp until they got well again. 9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” So the place was called Gilgal,[a] as it is today.
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- Joshua 5:9 Gilgal sounds like the Heb verb galal, “to roll away.”
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