Joshua 5

1 And when the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, and the kings of Phoenicia along the sea, heard that the Lord God had dried up the river Jordan in front of the children of Israel while they crossed over, their minds melted, and they were struck with terror, and there was no sense left in them because of the children of Israel. [a] 2 About this time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make yourself stone knives out of sharp rock, and sit down and circumcise the children of Israel.” 3 And Joshua made stone knives of sharp rock and circumcised the children of Israel at the place called the Hill of Foreskins. [b]

4 And this is how Joshua purified the children of Israel: all who had been born on the way, and all of those who had come out of Egypt who were uncircumcised — 5 all these Joshua circumcised. 6 For Israel had wandered forty-two years in the wilderness of Madbaritis, and that is why most of them were uncircumcised — the fighting men who came out of the land of Egypt, the ones who disobeyed the commands of God, about whom he also determined that they would not see the land the Lord swore to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. [c]

7 In their place he set up their sons, and Joshua circumcised them, because they had been born uncircumcised along the way. 8 When they had been circumcised, they stayed quiet where they were, sitting in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, “On this day I have taken away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And he called the name of that place Gilgal.

10 And the children of Israel kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, from evening, west of Jericho, beyond the Jordan, in the plain. 11 And they ate from the grain of the land — bread without yeast and new grain. On that day [d] 12 the manna stopped, after they had eaten from the grain of the land, and the children of Israel had manna no longer; and that year they took the produce of the region of the Phoenicians.

13 And while Joshua was in Jericho, he looked up with his eyes and saw a man standing in front of him, and a drawn sword was in his hand. And Joshua went up to him and said to him, “Are you one of ours, or one of our enemies?” 14 And he said to him, “I am the commander of the army of the Lord. I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the ground and said to him, “Master, what do you command your servant?” [e] 15 And the commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”