The Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal 1Therefore, after all the kings of the Amorites, who were living across the Jordan toward the western region, and all the kings of Canaan, who possessed the places beside the great sea, had heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel, until they crossed over it, their heart was broken, and there remained in them no spirit, out of fear at the entrance of the sons of Israel. 2So at that time, the Lord said to Joshua: “Make for yourself knives of stone, and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” 3He did what the Lord had commanded, and he circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. 4Now this is the reason for the second circumcision: All the people who departed from Egypt of the male gender, all the men fit for war, died in the desert during the very long wandering way; 5all these had been circumcised. But the people who were born in the desert, 6throughout the forty years of the journey in the very broad wilderness, were uncircumcised, until the ones who had not listened to the voice of the Lord were consumed. For he had sworn to them before, that he would not reveal to them the land flowing with milk and honey. 7The sons of these ones succeeded to the place of their fathers, and they were circumcised by Joshua. For they were uncircumcised, just as they had been born, and no one had circumcised them along the way. 8Then, after they were all circumcised, they remained in the same place of the camp until they were healed. 9And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have taken away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And the name of that place was called Gilgal, even to the present day. 10And the sons of Israel stayed at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in the plains of Jericho. 11And on the following day, they ate unleavened bread from the grain of the land, and cooked grain, of the same year. 12And the manna ceased after they ate from the grain of the land. And the sons of Israel no longer made use of that food. Instead, they ate from the grain of the present year, from the land of Canaan. The Commander of the LORD’s Army 13And when Joshua was in the field of the city of Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and he saw a man standing opposite him, holding a drawn sword. And he went to him and said, “Are you one of ours, or one of our adversaries?”
14And he responded: “Not at all. Instead, I am a prince of the host of the Lord, and now I have arrived.” |
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