1. The Amorite kings west of the River Jordan and the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea lost their courage and their will to fight, when they heard how the Lord had dried up the River Jordan to let Israel go across.
2. While Israel was camped at Gilgal, the Lord said, “Joshua, make some flint knives and circumcise the rest of the Israelite men and boys.”
3. Joshua made the knives, then circumcised those men and boys at Haaraloth Hill.
4-7. This had to be done, because none of Israel's baby boys had been circumcised during the forty years that Israel had wandered through the desert after leaving Egypt.And why had they wandered for forty years? It was because straight after they left Egypt, the men in the army had disobeyed the Lord. And the Lord had said, “None of you men will ever live to see the land that I promised Israel. It is a land rich with milk and honey, and some day your children will live there, but not before you die here in the desert.”
8. Everyone who had been circumcised needed time to heal, and they stayed in camp.