JoshuaChapter 5

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¹All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan heard what had happened. So did all the Canaanite kings along the coast. They heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan in front of the Israelites until they had crossed. Then their hearts melted. They lost all courage because they were afraid of the Israelites. ²At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make knives out of flint. Circumcise the men of Israel once again." ³So Joshua made flint knives. He circumcised the men of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.a ⁴Here is why Joshua circumcised them. All the men who came out of Egypt, all the fighting men, had died. They died in the wilderness on the trip after they left Egypt. ⁵All the men who came out had been circumcised. But none of those born in the wilderness on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised. ⁶The Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for forty years. In that time, all the nation's fighting men who came out of Egypt died. They died because they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD had made a vow. He said they would never see the land he had promised their fathers to give us. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷God raised up their sons to take their place. These were the ones Joshua circumcised. Up to this time they were still not circumcised. No one had circumcised them along the way. ⁸After the whole nation had been circumcised, they stayed in the camp until they were healed. ⁹Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the shame of Egypt from you." So that place is still called Gilgal today.b ¹⁰The Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho. On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, they kept the Passover. ¹¹On the very next day after the Passover, they ate food grown in the land. They ate bread made without yeast and roasted grain. ¹²The day after they ate food from the land, the manna stopped. The Israelites had no more manna. So that year they ate the crops of the land of Canaan. ¹³One day Joshua was near Jericho. He looked up and saw a man standing in front of him. The man held a sword in his hand, ready to use. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you on our side or on our enemies' side?" ¹⁴"Neither," he answered. "I have come now as the Commander of the LORD's army." Then Joshua bowed down with his face to the ground in worship. He asked him, "What does my Lord want to say to his servant?" ¹⁵The Commander of the LORD's army answered, "Take off your sandals. The place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.