5 All the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and the Canaanite kings living by the ·Mediterranean Sea [L Sea] heard that the Lord dried up the Jordan River until the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] had crossed it. ·After that they were scared [L Their hearts melted] and ·too afraid to face [L there was no breath/spirit in them because of] the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel].
The Israelites Are Circumcised
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make knives from flint stones and circumcise [Gen. 17:7–14] the ·Israelites [L sons of Israel a second time].” 3 So Joshua made knives from flint stones and circumcised the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] at ·Gibeath Haaraloth [C Hebrew for “Hill of Foreskins”].
4 This is why Joshua circumcised the men: After the Israelites left Egypt, all the men old enough to serve in the army died in the desert on the ·way [journey] ·out of [or after leaving] Egypt. 5 The men who had come out of Egypt had been circumcised, but none of those who were born in the desert on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised. 6 The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] had moved about in the ·desert [wilderness] for forty years. During that time all the fighting men who had left Egypt had died because they had not obeyed the Lord [Num. 13–14]. So the Lord swore they would not see the land he had promised their ancestors to give them, a ·fertile land [L land flowing with milk and honey; C a phrase describing the natural bounty of the land]. 7 Their sons ·took [were raised up in] their places. But none of the sons born on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised, so Joshua circumcised them. 8 After all the Israelites had been circumcised, they stayed in camp until they were healed.
9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have ·removed [rolled away] the shame [disgrace; reproach] of ·your slavery in Egypt [L Egypt].” So that place was named Gilgal [C sounds like Hebrew for “rolled away”; 4:19], which it is still named today.
10 The ·people [L sons/T children] of Israel were camped at Gilgal [4:19] on the plains of Jericho. It was there, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, they celebrated the Passover Feast [Ex. 12]. 11 The day after the Passover, the people ate food grown on that land: ·bread made without yeast [unleavened bread] and roasted grain. 12 The day they ate this food, the manna stopped coming [Ex. 16:35]. The ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] no longer got the manna from heaven. They ate the food grown in the land of Canaan that year.
13 Joshua was near Jericho when he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a sword in his hand [Ex. 3:2—4:17; Judg. 6:11–23]. Joshua went to him and asked, “Are you ·a friend or an enemy [L for us or for our enemies/adversaries]?”
14 The man answered, “·I am neither [L No]. I have come as the commander of the Lord’s army [C God himself who comes as a warrior; Ex. 15:3].”
Then Joshua bowed facedown on the ground and asked, “Does my ·master [lord] have a ·command [message] for me, his servant?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army answered, “Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy [Ex. 3:5].” So Joshua did.