Joshua 5 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard that Yahweh had dried up the Jordan River for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their courage melted away. They completely lost the will to face the Israelites.

At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again, a second time."

So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelite men at Gibeath-haaraloth.

Here's why Joshua circumcised them: Every male who had left Egypt — all the fighting men — had died in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt.

All the people who had left Egypt had been circumcised, but none of the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had been circumcised.

The Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for forty years until the entire generation of fighting men who had left Egypt had died off — because they hadn't listened to Yahweh's voice. Yahweh had sworn that he would never let them see the land he had promised their ancestors he would give us, a land overflowing with milk and honey.

So it was their sons — the ones he raised up to replace them — that Joshua circumcised. They had never been circumcised, because no one had circumcised them during the journey.

When the whole nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in camp until they had healed.

Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you." So that place has been called Gilgal ever since.

The Israelites camped at Gilgal and celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, on the plains of Jericho.

The day after Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.

The manna stopped the day after they ate the produce of the land. There was no more manna for the Israelites. That year, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan.

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 walked up to him and asked, "Are you on our side, or on our enemies' side?"

"Neither," he said. "I have come as the commander of Yahweh's army." Joshua fell facedown on the ground in reverence and asked him, "What does my master want to say to his servant?"

The commander of Yahweh's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals — the place where you're standing is set apart." And Joshua did so.