1 Now 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. 2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel once again.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4 Now 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. 5 Though all who had come out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt had been circumcised. 6 For 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. 7 And 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. 8 And after all the nation had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they were healed. 9 Then 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. 10 On 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. 11 The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land. 12 And 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. 13 Now 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?” 15 The Commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Joshua · Majority Standard Bible
Joshua 5 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (15)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Joshua 2:9–11; Numbers 13:29; 1 Kings 10:5; Ezekiel 16:3; Judges 11:23
- 2 Deuteronomy 30:6; Deuteronomy 10:16; Exodus 4:25; Genesis 17:10–14; Romans 4:11
- 3 Matthew 16:24; Genesis 17:23–27
- 4 1 Corinthians 10:5; Deuteronomy 2:16; Numbers 26:64–65; Deuteronomy 2:14; Numbers 14:22
- 5 Matthew 12:7; Hosea 6:6–7; Romans 2:26; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 6:15
- 6 Numbers 14:23; Deuteronomy 2:14; Hebrews 3:11; Deuteronomy 1:3; Exodus 3:8
- 7 Numbers 14:31; Deuteronomy 1:39
- 8 Genesis 34:25
- 9 1 Samuel 17:26; Joshua 4:19; Genesis 34:14; Joshua 24:14; Leviticus 24:14
- 10 Exodus 12:6; Numbers 9:1–5; Ezekiel 12:3; Ezekiel 12:6–16
- 11 Leviticus 23:14; Leviticus 23:6; Exodus 12:18–20; Exodus 13:6–7
- 12 Exodus 16:35; Deuteronomy 6:10–11; Nehemiah 9:20–21; Proverbs 13:22; Revelation 7:16–17
- 13 Genesis 18:2; Numbers 22:23; Numbers 22:31; 1 Chronicles 21:16–17; 1 Chronicles 21:30
- 14 Isaiah 55:4; Genesis 17:3; Exodus 23:20–22; Revelation 19:10–14; Acts 10:25–26
- 15 Exodus 3:5; Acts 7:32–33; 2 Peter 1:18
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… Moses should give manna as food to the fathers, but Joshua wheat; as the first-fruits of life, a type of the body of Christ, as also the Scripture declares that the manna of the Lord ceased when the people had eaten wheat from the land. XX.
"And Joshua took knives of flints, in which to circumcise," that is, by which to circumcise, "the children of Israel." But let those who on this account take from the Holy Spirit His proper power, look to that which we read to have been spoken by the Lord, "The Spirit bloweth where It listeth." And as to what the Apostle …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
… crossing of Jordan, according as it is written in the book of Joshua, the son of Nun: At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee knives of stone from the sharp rock, and assemble and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time; and a little later: For the children of Israel walked forty and two years …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)