Joshua 5

₁They told the kings of the Amorites, west of the Jordan River, and the kings of the Canaanite people, next to the big sea, that the Lord had stopped the water of the Jordan River for the Israelites to go over the river. The kings became afraid. They did not want to go to war_against the Israelites.

₂The Lord said to Joshua: ‘You must make knives from stones and you must circumcise the Israelite men and boys.’

₃Joshua made the knives and he circumcised the Israelites at Foreskin Hill. ₄Why did Joshua have to circumcise them? He did it because all the men who came out of the land of Egypt, all of them who could go to war, had died in the desert after they had come out of Egypt. ₅All the men who were in Egypt had been circumcised, but none of the babies had been circumcised in the desert after they had come out of Egypt. ₆The Israelites had to walk through the desert for 40 years until all the men who had come from Egypt, who were old enough to go to war, had died. This was because they did not listen to the Lord and the Lord said they would not come into the land that He had promised to give to their fathers. It was a very good land with a lot of food, milk and honey. ₇The Lord gave the Israelites baby boys in place of the men who had died and Joshua circumcised them because they had not been circumcised on the way in the desert. ₈After he had circumcised all of them, they stayed in the camp until they had all healed. ₉The Lord said to Joshua: ‘You were slaves in Egypt, but now I have taken away that shame.’ That is why the Lord said that the name of that place must be Gilgal, and today that is still the name of the place.

₁₀The Israelites had the Passover feast while they were in the camp at Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, near the city of Jericho. It was in the evening of the 14th day of the month.

₁₁On the day after the feast the Israelites started eating food from the land. They ate flat bread and fried wheat. ₁₂No more manna came from heaven. It stopped coming the day that they ate food from the land of Canaan. The Israelites did not get manna again. That year they started to eat food that grew in the land.

₁₃Joshua was near the city of Jericho when he saw a man standing in front of him. The man had a sword in his hand. Joshua went to the man and asked him: ‘Are you one of us or are you one of our enemies?’ ₁₄The man answered and said: ‘No, I am the chief of the army of the Lord and I have come to be with you.’ Joshua bowed down to the ground. He knelt and he said: ‘I am your servant. Please tell me what I must do.’

₁₅The chief of the army of the Lord said: ‘Take off your sandals. This is a holy place.’ So Joshua took off his sandals.