Joshua 5

1All the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites along the sea heard how the LORD had made the waters of the Jordan dry up ahead of the Israelites until they had crossed. When they heard it, their hearts melted, and no spirit was left in them to face the Israelites.

2At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make knives of flint and once more circumcise the sons of Israel, a second time.” 3So Joshua made knives of flint, and at the Hill of Foreskins he circumcised the sons of Israel. 4This is why Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt, the males, every man of fighting age, had died in the wilderness on the way after they left Egypt. 5All the people who came out had been circumcised, but none of the people born in the wilderness on the journey after leaving Egypt had been circumcised. 6For forty years the Israelites traveled in the wilderness, until that whole nation, the men of war who had come out of Egypt, had perished, because they had not listened to the voice of the LORD. The LORD swore to them that they would not see the land he had promised their fathers on oath to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7It was their sons, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised, because no one had circumcised them on the way. 8When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they stayed where they were in the camp until they had healed.

9Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” So that place is called Gilgal to this day. 10While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, on the plains of Jericho. 11On the day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12The manna stopped on the day after they ate from the produce of the land. The Israelites had no more manna; that year they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan.

13Once, when Joshua was close to Jericho, he looked up, and there in front of him stood a man with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went over to him and asked, “Are you on our side, or on the side of our enemies?” 14“Neither,” he answered. “I am the commander of the army of the LORD, and now I have come.” Then Joshua threw himself down with his face to the ground and bowed low. He said to him, “What does my lord wish to say to his servant?” 15The commander of the army of the LORD said to Joshua, “Take the sandals off your feet. The place you are standing on is holy.” And Joshua did so.