Joshua 5 – 6

Circumcision Renewed

Joshua 5

¹ When all the kings of the Amorites who were in the region west of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of the people of Israel until we ^[1] had crossed over, their hearts melted, and they lost all courage in the presence of the Israelites.

² At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives, and circumcise the sons of Israel again, a second time.” ³ So Joshua made flint knives, and he circumcised the sons of Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins.

⁴ This is the reason Joshua had to circumcise the men of Israel again: All the people who came up out of Egypt—all the males, the fighting men—died in the wilderness along the way after they came out of Egypt. ⁵ All the people who came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey after they had come out from Egypt had not been circumcised. ⁶ Yes, for forty years the Israelites walked through the wilderness until the whole nation was gone—all the fighting men who had gone out from Egypt, who had not listened to the voice of the Lord. The Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷ So it was their sons, whom the Lord had raised up in their place, whom Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised, since the people had not circumcised them during the journey.

⁸ When the whole nation had been circumcised, they stayed at their places in the camp until they recuperated.

⁹ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is Gilgal ^[2] to this day.

¹⁰ While the people of Israel were camped at Gilgal, they celebrated the Passover on the plain near Jericho on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening at sunset. ¹¹ They ate from the produce of the land on the day after the Passover. On that very day they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹² The manna stopped the day after the first day that they had eaten from the produce of the land. The people of Israel no longer received manna. Instead, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

The Commander of the Lord’s Army Leads the Campaign

¹³ When Joshua was at Jericho, he looked up and saw a man was standing right there in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said, “Are you one of us or one of our enemies?”

¹⁴ The man said, “Neither! I have now come as the commander of the army of the Lord.” Joshua fell with his face to the ground and worshipped. Then he said to him, “What does my Lord have to say to his servant?”

¹⁵ The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy.” So Joshua did so.

Joshua 6

¹ Jericho was shut up tight because of the Israelites. There was no one going out and no one coming in.

² So the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho and its king into your hands even though they are strong warriors. ³ You shall march around the city with all the fighting men. Circle the city one time. Do this for six days. ⁴ Seven priests shall carry seven special ram’s horns ^[3] in front of the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the ram’s horns. ⁵ When there is a long blast on the special ram’s horn of jubilee, when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, ^[4] all the people shall shout with a loud war cry. Then the wall of the city will collapse on itself, and the people ^[5] will go up into the city, one man after another.”

The Fall of Jericho

⁶ So Joshua son of Nun called for the priests and said to them, “Lift up the Ark of the Covenant, and seven priests shall carry seven special ram’s horns in front of the Ark of the Lord.” ⁷ Then he said to the people, “Move out. March around the city. The armed contingent shall march in front of the Ark of the Lord.”

⁸ When Joshua had given orders to the people, the seven priests with the seven special ram’s horns moved forward in front of the Lord, blowing the ram’s horns continuously, with the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord following them. ⁹ The armed contingent was marching ahead of the priests, who were blowing the ram’s horns, and the rear guard was following the ark. The priests kept blowing the ram’s horns as they went. ¹⁰ But to the people Joshua had given the order, “Do not shout and do not let your voice be heard. Do not let a word go out of your mouth until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!” ¹¹ So he had the Ark of the Lord go around the city, sending it out to circle the city one time. Then they came back to the camp and spent the night there.

¹² Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests lifted up the Ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests with the seven special ram’s horns moved forward in front of the Ark of the Lord, blowing the ram’s horns continuously. The armed contingent was marching in front of them, and the rear guard was following behind the Ark of the Lord. The priests kept blowing the ram’s horns as they went. ¹⁴ They marched around the city one time on the second day, and then they returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ Then on the seventh day they got up early, at daybreak, and they marched around the city seven times, following the directions they had been given. It was only on the seventh day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ Then on the seventh time, the priests blew the ram’s horns, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout, because the Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city will be devoted to destruction. ^[6] The city and everything in it will be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute will live—she along with all who are with her in the house—because she hid the agents whom we sent. ¹⁸ But you must keep away from the things devoted to destruction, or you will make yourselves subject to destruction by taking some of the devoted things, and you will make the camp of Israel subject to destruction and bring disaster upon it. ¹⁹ But all the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to ^[7] the Lord. They must go into the treasury of the Lord.”

²⁰ So the people shouted, and the priests blew the ram’s horns. When the people heard the sound of the ram’s horns, they shouted with a loud war cry. Then the wall collapsed on itself, and the people went up into the city, one man after another. So they captured the city. ²¹ Then they applied the decree of destruction by the edge of the sword to everything that was in the city—both men and women, young and old, and also the oxen, sheep, and donkeys.

²² To the two men who had spied on the land Joshua said, “Go to the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and everyone who belongs to her, just as you swore to her.” ²³ So the young men who had acted as spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and everyone who belonged to her. They brought out all her family members, and they settled them outside the camp of Israel.

²⁴ But the city and everything in it they burned with fire. Only the silver and gold and the bronze and iron vessels were placed into the treasury of the House of the Lord. ²⁵ But Joshua spared the lives of Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and everyone who belonged to her, and she has lived within Israel to this day, because she hid the agents that Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.

²⁶ At that time Joshua swore an oath:

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread through the whole land.