Joshua 5
1 All the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over. Their hearts melted, and they had no courage left because of the Israelites.
2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the Israelites again, a second time.”
3 Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth.
4 This is why Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt—the men, all the men of war—had died in the wilderness along the way, after leaving Egypt.
5 For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness along the way, after leaving Egypt, had not been circumcised.
6 For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for forty years, until the whole nation was gone—all the men of war who came out of Egypt, who had not obeyed the voice of the LORD. The LORD had sworn to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
7 Their sons, whom he had raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised, because they were uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way.
8 When the whole nation had finished being circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.
9 The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the shame of Egypt.” That place was called Gilgal, and it is still called that to this day.
10 The Israelites camped at Gilgal and celebrated Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, on the plains of Jericho.
11 The day after Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.
12 The manna stopped the day after they ate some of the produce of the land. The Israelites no longer had manna, and that year they ate from the harvest of the land of Canaan.
13 When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you one of us or one of our enemies?”
14 He answered, “No. I am the commander of the army of the LORD. I have now come.” Joshua fell facedown to the ground, bowed down, and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”
15 The commander of the army of the LORD said to Joshua, “Take off the sandal from your foot, because the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
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