Yosua 5:4-7

5:4 This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt. ¹  5:5 Now ²  all the men ³  who left were circumcised, but all the sons ⁴  born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised. 5:6 Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. ⁵  For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, ⁶  a land rich in ⁷  milk and honey. 5:7 He replaced them with their sons, ⁸  whom Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised; their fathers had not circumcised them along the way.

[5:4]  ¹ tn Heb “All the people who went out from Egypt, the males, all the men of war, died in the desert in the way when they went out from Egypt.”

[5:5]  ² tn Or “indeed.”

[5:5]  ³ tn Heb “people.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the people.”

[5:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the nation, the men of war who went out from Egypt, who did not listen to the voice of the Lord, came to an end.”

[5:6]  ⁶ tn Some Hebrew mss, as well as the Syriac version, support this reading. Most ancient witnesses read “us.”

[5:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “flowing with.”

[5:6]  sn The word picture a land rich in milk and honey depicts the land as containing many grazing areas (which would produce milk) and flowering plants (which would support the bees that produced honey).

[5:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “their sons he raised up in their place.”