Joshua 5

The leaders of the Amorites and Canaanites heard about how God had dried up the water of the Jordan River in front of the Israelites so that they could cross it. Those leaders included all the kings of the Amorites who {lived} on the west side of the Jordan River, toward the {Great} Sea. They also included all the kings of the Canaanites, who {lived} close to the {Great} Sea. When those kings heard {what God had done}, they became very afraid and no longer desired to fight {the Israelites}. \*

While {the Israelites were staying at Gilgal,} God said to Joshua, “{Someone had circumcised the Israelite males who lived in Egypt before they left there. Now} make knives from flint stones and circumcise all the Israelite males whom no one has yet circumcised.”

So Joshua {commanded the people} to make knives from flint stones and circumcise the Israelite males at {a place that people now call} Circumcision Hill. \*

This is why they circumcised the Israelite males at this time. All of the men who left Egypt, all those old enough to be soldiers, had died in the desert after they left Egypt.

Someone had circumcised those men when they were children in Egypt. But no one had circumcised the boys whose mothers gave birth to them while they were in the wilderness, after they left Egypt. \*

The people of Israel traveled through the wilderness for 40 years, until all the men who were old enough to be soldiers, who had left Egypt, had died. This happened because they had not obeyed God. So God swore to them that they would not be able to enter the land that he had promised to our ancestors. He said that he would give that very fertile land to us, their descendants.

The sons of those who had disobeyed God were the ones whom Joshua and other Israelite leaders circumcised {at Gilgal}. They circumcised them there because no one had done that while they were traveling in the wilderness. \*

After the leaders had circumcised all the Israelite males, they remained in the camp and rested until they had healed.

Then God said to Joshua, “People thought badly of you because they considered you to be just former Egyptian slaves. But now I have made you a distinct nation.” Because of that, people called that place Gilgal, and it still has that name even now. \*

On the evening of the fourteenth day of that month, while the people of Israel were staying at Gilgal, on the plain near the city of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover festival.

The day after they celebrated the Passover festival, they gathered barley grain in that area. They made some of the barley grain into unleavened bread and ate, and they roasted and ate some of it. \*

The next day, {God} stopped {sending} manna for the people of Israel {to eat}. From then on, they ate food that grew in the land of Canaan. \*

One day, when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw someone who appeared to be a man standing in front of him. The man was holding a sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked him, “Are you going to fight for us or against us?” \*

The man replied, “I am not a soldier in any human army. Rather, I am the commander of God’s army. I have come {here to help you}.” Then Joshua very respectfully got down on his knees and touched his face to the ground. Joshua said to him, “What do you want me to do? I will do it.”

The commander of God’s army replied, “The ground on which you are standing is holy {because I am here}. So take off your sandals.” So Joshua took off his sandals. \*