Joshua 5:4

Holy Bible: Easy-to-Read Version

This is why Joshua circumcised the men: After the Israelites left Egypt, all the men who were able to serve in the army were circumcised. While in the desert, many of the fighting men did not listen to the Lord. So the Lord promised that they would not see the “land where much food grows.” He promised our ancestors to give us that land, but because of those men, he forced the people to wander in the desert for 40 years. That way all those fighting men would die. So all the fighting men died, and their sons took their place. But none of the boys who were born in the desert on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised. So Joshua circumcised them.

Cross References

1 Corinthians 10:5

But God was not pleased with most of those people, so they were killed in the desert.

Deuteronomy 2:16

“After all the fighting men were dead and gone,

Deuteronomy 2:14

It was 38 years from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until the time we crossed Zered Valley. As the Lord had promised, all the fighting men in our camp from that generation had died.

Numbers 14:22

None of the people I led out of Egypt will ever see the land of Canaan. They saw my glory and the great signs that I did in Egypt and in the desert. But they disobeyed me and tested me ten times.

Joshua 5:3

So Joshua made knives from flint rocks and circumcised the men of Israel at Gibeath Haaraloth.