Joshua 5:1-6

1When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear because of them.

2At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites.”

3So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

4Joshua had to circumcise them because all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness.

5Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of those born after the Exodus, during the years in the wilderness, had been circumcised.

6The Israelites had traveled in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the Lord, and the Lord vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us—a land flowing with milk and honey.