Joshua 5

The Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal

¹Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites.

²At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel once again.” ³So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.1

⁴Now this is why Joshua circumcised them: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of war—had died on the journey in the wilderness after they had left Egypt. ⁵Though all who had come out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt had been circumcised.

⁶For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷And He raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. Until this time they were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way.

⁸And after all the nation had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they were healed.

⁹Then 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.

¹⁰On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover. ¹¹The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

¹²And the day after they had eaten from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. There was no more manna for the Israelites, so that year they began to eat the crops of the land of Canaan.

The Commander of the LORD’s Army

¹³Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”

¹⁴“Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the LORD’s army.”

Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?”

¹⁵The Commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

And Joshua did so.