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Joshua 5:4

in Joshua 5

Now this is why Joshua circumcised them: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of war—had died on the journey in the wilderness after they had left Egypt.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: all the people that came forth out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came forth out of Egypt.

KJV

And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.

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This verse in Joshua 5

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Damascene

ORTHODOX FAITH 4.25 · Written before 749.

on Joshua 5:4-7

The circumcision was given to Abraham before the law, after the blessings and after the promise, as a sign to set him and those born of him and those of his household apart from the Gentiles in whose midst he was living. And this is obvious, because, when Israel spent forty years alone by themselves in the desert without mixing with any other nation, all those who were born in the desert were not circumcised. However, when Joshua brought them across the Jordan, they were circumcised and a second law of circumcision was made.

This site's exposition

Make thee sharp knives

on Joshua 5:2-7

The covenant sign had lapsed for the whole of the wilderness, and the text says so plainly at verse 5, that those born by the way had not been circumcised. Nobody explains why it stopped, and the chapter gives the fact without a reason. The generation that carried the sign died in the desert and the generation that lacked it is the one taking the land, so the first act inside the country is to put the mark of Genesis 17 back on the people.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Out of Egypt - This is to be restrained to such as were then above twenty years old, and such as were guilty of that rebellion, Num. xiv, 1-25, as it is expressed below, ver. 6.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְזֶ֥הand this

    vezehH2088 →1180 times

  • הַדָּבָ֖ר[is] the reason

    hadavarH1697 →1440 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־why

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • מָ֣לhe circumcised

    malH4135 →37 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֑עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הָעָ֣םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • הַיֹּצֵא֩which had come out

    haiyotze'H3318 →1067 times

  • מִמִּצְרַ֨יִםfrom Egypt

    mimitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • הַזְּכָרִ֜יםthe males

    hazekharimH2145 →

  • כֹּ֣ל׀all

    kolH3605 →5413 times

  • אַנְשֵׁ֣י[the] men of

    ʾansheiH582 →566 times

  • הַמִּלְחָמָ֗ה<the> war

    hamilchamahH4421 →320 times

  • מֵ֤תוּthey had died

    metuH4191 →839 times

  • בַמִּדְבָּר֙in the wilderness

    vamidbarH4057 →270 times

  • בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְon the way

    baderekhH1870 →707 times

  • בְּצֵאתָ֖םwhen went out they

    betzetamH3318 →1067 times

  • מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃from Egypt

    mimitzrayimH4714 →641 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

1 Corinthians 10:5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.3 worksDeuteronomy 2:16Now when all the fighting men among the people had died,3 worksNumbers 26:64–65Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.3 worksNumbers 14:22not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—2 worksDeuteronomy 2:14The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.2 worksHebrews 3:17–19And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Genesis 17:10This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 10:5

    Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 26:64–65

      Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Hebrews 3:17

      And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

    • Jude 1:5

      Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.

    • Numbers 14:37

      those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.

    • Numbers 14:11–12

      And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 2:14

    The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 14:28–35

      So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say.

  • Through

    Numbers 14:22

    not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—

    it leads to

    • Genesis 31:7

      And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.

    • Job 19:3

      Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.

Where this verse is studied

About Joshua

The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 5 →

This page draws on John Damascene, ORTHODOX FAITH 4.25; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 5 →