The Book of Joshua

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 5 -

Therefore, 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.

So at that time, the Lord said to Joshua: “Make for yourself knives of stone, and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.”(a)

He did what the Lord had commanded, and he circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

Now 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;

all these had been circumcised. But the people who were born in the desert,

throughout 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.

The 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.

Then, after they were all circumcised, they remained in the same place of the camp until they were healed.

And 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.

And 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.

And on the following day, they ate unleavened bread from the grain of the land, and cooked grain, of the same year.(b)

And 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

And 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?”

And he responded: “Not at all. Instead, I am a prince of the host of the Lord, and now I have arrived.”(c)

Joshua fell prone on the ground. And reverencing, he said, “What does my lord say to his servant?”(d)

He said: “Remove your shoes from your feet. For the place on which you stand is holy.” And Joshua did just as he had been commanded.

Footnotes

(a)5:2 The second time:Not that such as had been circumcised before were to be circumcised again; but that they were now to renew, and take up again the practice of circumcision; which had been omitted during their forty years’ sojourning in the wilderness; by reason of their being always uncertain when they should be obliged to march.(Challoner)

(b)5:11 The ‘polentam’ is grain cooked and eaten as grain, i.e. not ground into flour and made into bread. The text says that it was grain of the same year, meaning that this was grain harvested that sacred calendar year (the first month of which is called Nisan, in the springtime). The Passover celebration includes an offering to God of the first cut grain from the grain fields. The grain cannot be eaten until after it is offered to God.(Conte)

(c)5:14 Prince of the host of the Lord, etc:St. Michael, who is called prince of the people of Israel, Dan. 10:21.(Challoner)

(d)5:15 Worshipping:Not with divine honour, but with a religious veneration of an inferior kind, suitable to the dignity of his person.(Challoner)