Joshua 5

The Second Generation Circumcised

5So 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 ^awho were by the sea, ^bheard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until ¹we had crossed over, that ²their heart melted; ^cand there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

²At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make ^dflint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” ³So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at ³the hill of the foreskins. ⁴And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: ^eAll 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. ⁵For 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. ⁶For the children of Israel walked ^fforty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were ⁴consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord—to whom the Lord swore that ^gHe 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.” ⁷Then Joshua circumcised ⁱtheir sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

⁸So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp ^jtill they were healed. ⁹Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away ^kthe reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called ^lGilgal ⁵to this day.

¹⁰Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover ^mon the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. ¹¹And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and ⁶parched grain, on the very same day. ¹²Then ⁿthe 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

¹³And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, ^oa Man stood opposite him ^pwith His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

¹⁴So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

And Joshua ^qfell on his face to the earth and ^rworshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

¹⁵Then 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.