Joshua 5

When all the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites along the sea heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the people of Israel until we had crossed, their hearts melted, and they had no courage left because of the people of Israel. At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the people of Israel again, a second time.” So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the people of Israel at the Hill of Foreskins. This is why Joshua circumcised them: all the males among the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt. All the people who came out had been circumcised, but none of the people born in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt had been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked in the wilderness for forty years, until the whole nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had perished, because they had not obeyed the voice of the LORD. The LORD had sworn to them that he would not let them see the land the LORD had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. It was their sons, whom he had raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised. They had not been circumcised along the way. When the whole nation had finished being circumcised, they remained where they were in the camp until they healed. The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day. The people of Israel camped at Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, they ate some of the grain of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain, on that very day. The manna ceased the next day, after they ate some of the grain of the land. There was no more manna for the people of Israel, and that year they ate from the harvest of the land of Canaan. When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” He said, “No, but I have now come as commander of the LORD’s army.” Joshua fell facedown to the ground and bowed down. He said to him, “What does my lord have to say to his servant?” The commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Rights and attribution