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።
1All the Amorite and Canaanite kings heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River. They heard how he had dried it up for the Israelites until they had gone across it. The Amorite kings lived west of the Jordan. The kings of Canaan lived along the Mediterranean Sea. When all those kings heard what the Lord had done, they were terrified. They weren’t brave enough to face the Israelites anymore.
Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal
2At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make knives out of flint. Use them to circumcise the men of Israel.” 3So Joshua made knives out of flint. Then he used them to circumcise the men of Israel at Gibeath Haaraloth.
4Here is why Joshua circumcised them. All the men who came out of Egypt had died. They died while they were wandering through the Sinai Desert. They were the men old enough to serve in the army. 5All the men who came out had been circumcised. But all the men born in the desert during the journey from Egypt hadn’t been circumcised. 6The Israelites had moved around in the desert for 40 years. By the end of that time all the men old enough to serve in the army when they left Egypt had died. That’s because they hadn’t obeyed the Lord. He had made a promise to them. He had told them they wouldn’t see the land. It’s the land he had promised to their people to give us. It’s a land that has plenty of milk and honey. 7Because they hadn’t obeyed him, he raised up their sons to take their place. They were the ones Joshua circumcised. They hadn’t been circumcised yet. That’s because no one had circumcised them during the journey. 8So Joshua circumcised all those men. The whole nation remained in the camp until the men were healed.
9Then the Lord spoke to Joshua. He said, “Today I have taken away from you the shame of being slaves in Egypt.” That’s why the place where the men were circumcised has been called Gilgal to this very day.
10The Israelites celebrated the Passover Feast. They observed it on the evening of the 14th day of the month. They did it while they were camped at Gilgal on the plains around Jericho. 11The day after the Passover, they ate some of the food grown in the land. On that same day they ate grain that had been cooked. They also ate bread made without yeast. 12The manna stopped coming down the day after they ate the food grown in the land. The Israelites didn’t have manna anymore. Instead, that year they ate food grown in Canaan.
Israel Captures Jericho
13When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him. The man was holding a sword. He was ready for battle. Joshua went up to him. He asked, “Are you on our side? Or are you on the side of our enemies?”
14“I am not on either side,” he replied. “I have come as the commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua fell with his face to the ground. He asked the man, “What message does my Lord have for me?”
15The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals. The place you are standing on is holy ground.” So Joshua took them off.
