Joshua 5:4-6

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.

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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.”

² tn Or “indeed.”

³ tn Heb “people.”

⁴ tn Heb “all the people.”

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.”

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

⁷ tn Heb “flowing with.”

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).