1 All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea heard that the Lord had dried up the Jordan until the people of Israel had crossed it. They became afraid and lost their courage because of the Israelites.
2 Then the Lord told Joshua, “Make some knives out of flint and circumcise the Israelites.”
3 So Joshua did as the Lord had commanded, and he circumcised the Israelites at a place called Circumcision Hill.
4-6 When the people of Israel left Egypt, all the males were already circumcised. However, during the forty years the people spent crossing the desert, none of the baby boys had been circumcised. Also, by the end of that time all the men who were of fighting age when they left Egypt had died because they had disobeyed the Lord. Just as he had sworn, they were not allowed to see the rich and fertile land that he had promised their ancestors.
7 The sons of these men had never been circumcised, and it was this new generation that Joshua circumcised.