Joshua 5:2

A New Generation is Circumcised

5:2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites once again.” ¹ 

Joshua 6:21

6:21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, ²  including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

Joshua 10:35

10:35 That day they captured it and put the sword to all who lived there. That day they ³  annihilated it just as they ⁴  had done to Lachish.

Joshua 11:11

11:11 They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword ⁵  – no one who breathed remained – and burned ⁶  Hazor.

Joshua 24:12

24:12 I sent terror ⁷  ahead of you to drive out before you the two ⁸  Amorite kings. I gave you the victory; it was not by your swords or bows. ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “return, circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense to indicate the repetition of an action.

² tn Heb “all which was in the city.”

³ tn Heb “he”; the implied subject may be Israel, or Joshua (as the commanding general of the army).

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the implied subject may be Israel, or Joshua (as the commanding general of the army).

⁴ tn Heb “and they struck down all life which was in it with the edge of the sword, annihilating.”

⁵ tn Heb “burned with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.

⁵ tn Traditionally, “the hornet” (so KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) but the precise meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain (cf. NEB “panic”).

⁶ tn The LXX has “twelve,” apparently understanding this as a reference to Amorite kings west of the Jordan (see Josh 5:1, rather than the trans-Jordanian Amorite kings Sihon and Og (see Josh 2:10; 9:10).

⁷ tn Heb “and it drove them out from before you, the two kings of the Amorites, not by your sword and not by your bow.” The words “I gave you the victory” are supplied for clarification.