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The Book of Joshua

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- Chapter 5 -

1
All the kings of the Amorites on the west of the Jordan River and all the kings of the Canaanites, who lived close to the Mediterranean coast, heard about how Yahweh had dried up the water of the Jordan River until all the people of Israel had crossed over. They were so afraid that they became too afraid to fight the Israelites, because they had heard all about them.
2
At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, “Now make knives from flint stones and circumcise all the Israelite males who have not been circumcised.”
3
So Joshua made sharp stone knives and circumcised the Israelite males at a place that is now called Gibeath Haaraloth.
4
The reason they did that is that all the men who left Egypt, all those old enough to be soldiers, they all had been circumcised, but all of them had died in the desert after they left Egypt.
5
They had been circumcised in Egypt, but the boys who had been born while they were in the desert after they left Egypt, had not been circumcised.
6
The people of Israel walked through the desert for forty years, until all the people, including all the men who were old enough to be soldiers, they all had died. They had not obeyed Yahweh, so Yahweh said that they would not see the land that he had promised to them, a land that was very fertile, the land was so fertile that they said it had milk and honey flowing through it, just as rivers flow with water.
7
It was the children of those who had died that Yahweh raised up in their place. He circumcised them because they had not been circumcised when they were walking through the wilderness.
8
After all the Israelite males had been circumcised, they remained in the camp and rested until they healed.
9
Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” So, the name of the place is Gilgal, even now.
10
In the evening of the fourteenth day of that month, while the Israelite people were camped at Gilgal, on the plain near the city of Jericho, there they celebrated the Passover feast.
11
The day after the Passover they ate some bread made without yeast, and they roasted the grain.
12
The next day God stopped sending manna for them to eat. They ate food that had grown in the land of Canaan beginning that year.

The Commander of the LORD’s Army

13
While Joshua was standing near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man in front of him. The man had drawn his sword and was holding it in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked him, “Are you on our side, or are you on the side of our enemies?”
14
The man replied, “Neither side. I am the commander of Yahweh’s army, and now I have come.” Then Joshua fell to the ground with his face on the earth to show him respect. Joshua said to him, “What do you, my master, command me to do? I am your servant.”
15
The commander of Yahweh’s army replied, “Take your sandals off of your feet, for the ground on which you are standing is holy.” So Joshua took off his sandals.
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1
When all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the children of Israel.
2
At that time, the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives, and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.”
3
Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
4
This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way, after they came out of Egypt.
5
For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.
6
For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they didn’t listen to the LORD’s voice. The LORD swore to them that he wouldn’t let them see the land which the LORD swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
7
Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.
8
When they were done circumcising the whole nation, they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.
9
The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal (a) to this day.
10
The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
11
They ate unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, in the same day.
12
The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel didn’t have manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

The Commander of the LORD’s Army

13
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our enemies?”
14
He said, “No; but I have come now as commander of the LORD’s army.” Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and asked him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”
15
The prince of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.

Footnotes

(a)5:9 “Gilgal” sounds like the Hebrew for “roll.”
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