1And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.
2¶ At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.5.2 sharp…: or, knives of flints 3And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.5.3 sharp…: or, knives of flints5.3 the hill…: or, Gibeah-haaraloth 4And 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. 5Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised. 6For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 7And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way. 8And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.5.8 they had…: Heb. the people had made an end to be circumcised 9And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.5.9 Gilgal: that is Rolling
10¶ And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. 11And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
12¶ And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
13¶ And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 14And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?5.14 captain: or, prince 15And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
በጌልገላ የተደረገ ግዝረት
1በዚህ ጊዜ ከዮርዳኖስ ማዶ በምዕራብ በኩል ያሉት የአሞራውያን ነገሥታት ሁሉ፣ በባሕሩም ዳርቻ ያሉ የከነዓናውያን ነገሥታት በሙሉ እግዚአብሔር ዮርዳኖስን እስክንሻገር ወንዙን በእስራኤላውያን ፊት እንዴት እንዳደረቀው በሰሙ ጊዜ፣ ልባቸው በፍርሀት ቀለጠ፤ እስራኤላውያንንም ለመቋቋም ድፍረት ዐጡ።
2በዚያን ጊዜ እግዚአብሔር ኢያሱን፣ “የባልጩት መቍረጫ አዘጋጅተህ፣ ያልተገረዙትን እስራኤላውያንን ለሁለተኛ ጊዜ ግረዛቸው” አለው። 3ስለዚህ ኢያሱ የባልጩት መቍረጫ አዘጋጅቶ በጊብዓዝ ዓረሎት5፥3 ትርጓሜውም የሸለፈት ኰረብታ ማለት ነው። በተባለ ስፍራ እስራኤላውያንን ገረዛቸው።
4እንግዲህ ኢያሱ እስራኤላውያንን የገረዘበት ምክንያት ይህ ነው፤ ዕድሜያቸው መሣሪያ ለመያዝ የደረሱ ወንዶች ሁሉ ከግብፅ ከወጡ በኋላ በመንገድ ላይ ሳሉ በምድረ በዳ ሞቱ። 5ከዚያ የወጡት ሰዎች ሁሉ ተገርዘው ነበር፤ ከግብፅ ከወጡ በኋላ በምድረ በዳ በጕዞ ላይ ሳሉ የተወለዱት ግን በሙሉ አልተገረዙም ነበር። 6ግብፅን ለቀው በወጡ ጊዜ መሣሪያ ለመያዝ የደረሱ ወንዶች ሁሉ ለእግዚአብሔር ስላልታዘዙ፣ እነርሱ ሞተው እስኪያልቁ ድረስ፣ እስራኤላውያን በምድረ በዳ አርባ ዓመት ይንከራተቱ ነበር። እግዚአብሔር ለእኛ ይሰጠን ዘንድ ለአባቶቻቸው ቃል የገባላቸውን ያችን ማርና ወተት የምታፈስስ ምድር እንደማያዩአት ምሏልና። 7ስለዚህ በእነርሱ ምትክ ወንዶች ልጆቻቸውን አስነሣ። እንግዲህ ኢያሱ የገረዛቸው እነዚህን ነበር፤ በጕዞ ላይ ሳሉ ባለመገረዛቸው ከነሸለፈታቸው ነበሩና። 8ሕዝቡ ሁሉ ከተገረዙ በኋላ ቍስሉ እስኪሽር ድረስ እዚያው በሰፈሩበት ቦታ ቈዩ።
9ከዚያም እግዚአብሔር ኢያሱን፣ “እነሆ፤ ዛሬ የግብፅን ነውር ከእናንተ ላይ አንከባልያለሁ” አለው፤ ከዚህም የተነሣ የዚያ ቦታ ስም እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ ጌልገላ5፥9 በዕብራይስጡ ጌልገላ የሚለው ቃል ድምፅ መንከባለል ከሚለው ቃል ጋር አንድ ዐይነት ነው። ተባለ።
10እስራኤላውያን በኢያሪኮ ሜዳ በጌልገላ ሰፍረው ሳሉ፣ ወሩ በገባ በዐሥራ አራተኛው ቀን ምሽት የፋሲካን በዓል አከበሩ። 11ከፋሲካም በኋላ በዚያኑ ዕለት የምድሪቱን ፍሬ ማለት ያልቦካ ቂጣና የተጠበሰ እሸት በሉ። 12የምድሪቱን ፍሬ በበሉበት ቀን5፥12 ወይም በበሉበት ጊዜ ተብሎ መተርጐም ይችላል። መናው መውረዱ ቀረ፤ ከዚያ በኋላ ለእስራኤላውያን መና አልወረደላቸውም፤ ነገር ግን በዚያኑ ዓመት የከነዓንን ምድር ፍሬ በሉ።
የኢያሪኮ መውደቅ
13ኢያሱ በኢያሪኮ አጠገብ ሳለ፣ ቀና ብሎ ሲመለከት የተመዘዘ ሰይፍ በእጁ የያዘ አንድ ሰው ከፊቱ ቆሞ አየ። ኢያሱም ወደ እርሱ ቀርቦ፤ “ከእኛ ወገን ነህ ወይስ ከጠላቶቻችን?” ሲል ጠየቀው።
14እርሱም፣ “አይደለሁም፤ ነገር ግን የእግዚአብሔር ሰራዊት አለቃ በመሆኔ እነሆ፤ መጥቻለሁ” ሲል መለሰለት፤ ኢያሱም በግንባሩ ተደፍቶ ሰገደና፣ “ጌታዬ ለባሪያው የሚነግረው ምንድን ነው?” አለው።
15የእግዚአብሔር ሰራዊት አለቃም ኢያሱን፣ “ጫማህን ከእግርህ አውልቅ፤ የቆምህባት ምድር የተቀደሰች ናትና” አለው፤ ኢያሱም እንደ ታዘዘው አደረገ።
