1   When all the Amorite kings to the west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings by the sea-coast heard that the Lord had dried up the waters before the advance of the Israelites until they had crossed, their courage melted away and there was no more spirit left in them for fear of the Israelites.

2   At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make knives of flint, seat yourself, and make Israel a circumcised people again.’ 3   Joshua thereupon made knives of flint and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth. ^note 4   This is why Joshua circumcised them: all the males who came out of Egypt, all the fighting men, had died in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt. 5   The people who came out of Egypt had all been circumcised, but not those who had been born in the wilderness during the journey. 6   For the Israelites travelled in the wilderness for forty years, until the whole nation, all the fighting men among them, had passed away, all who came out of Egypt and had disobeyed the voice of the Lord. The Lord swore that he would not allow any of these to see the land which he had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7   So it was their sons, whom he had raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised; they were uncircumcised because they

Israel's entry into the promised land had not been circumcised on the journey. 8   When the circumcision of the whole nation was complete, they stayed where they were in camp until they had recovered. 9   The Lord then said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the reproaches of the Egyptians.’ Therefore the place is called Gilgal ^note to this very day.

10   The Israelites encamped in Gilgal, and at sunset on the fourteenth day of the month they kept the Passover in the lowlands of Jericho. 11   On the day after the Passover, they ate their unleavened cakes and parched grain, and that day it was the produce of the country. 12   It was from that day, when they first ate the produce of the country, that the manna ceased. The Israelites received no more manna; and that year they ate what had grown in the land of Canaan.

13   When Joshua came near Jericho he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and said, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ 14   And the man said to him, ‘I ^note am here as captain of the army of the Lord.’ Joshua fell down before him, face to the ground, and said, ‘What have you to say to your servant, my lord?’ 15   The captain of the Lord's army said to him, ‘Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy’; and Joshua did so.

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