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At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites a second time.”(A) So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth.[a] This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the warriors, had died during the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt.(B) Although all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people born on the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the Israelites traveled forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the warriors who came out of Egypt, perished, not having listened to the voice of the Lord. To them the Lord swore that he would not let them see the land that he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.(C) So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.

When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal[b] to this day.

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Footnotes

  1. 5.3 That is, the hill of the foreskins
  2. 5.9 In Heb Gilgal is related to the verb rolled

Israel Reestablishes Covenant Ceremonies

At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites.[a] So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.[b]

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. 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. 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. 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. After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.

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.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5:2 Or circumcise the Israelites a second time.
  2. 5:3 Gibeath-haaraloth means “hill of foreskins.”
  3. 5:9 Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew word galal, meaning “to roll.”