Joshua 5:5 explains a gap in Israel’s obedience. The generation that left Egypt had been circumcised, but the children born during forty years in the wilderness had not, so Joshua performed the rite again before Israel entered the Promised Land. The verse is narrator’s commentary inside the book of Joshua, a historical account of Israel’s journey from the wilderness into Canaan. It is not a speech by any character.
For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.
Joshua 5:5 (WEB)
What Joshua 5:5 Means
The verse begins with “For all the people who came out,” meaning the adults who left Egypt under Moses. Those people had received circumcision, the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 17. The contrast comes with “but all the people who were born in the wilderness.” Those children were born during the long journey and had never been circumcised, because the rite had been neglected while Israel wandered.
The verse states a fact about the past. It does not promise anything about the future, and it does not teach that circumcision is required of believers today. Its purpose is to explain why the rite was necessary at that moment, which the following verses make clear: a new generation needed to be brought into the covenant before it could take possession of the land.
The Context of Joshua 5:5
Joshua is traditionally attributed to Joshua himself, with later editorial touches, and it describes Israel’s entry into Canaan under his leadership. Its first readers were the Israelites who had crossed the Jordan and needed to understand how they became the covenant people in their own land. The book is organized around the conquest, the division of the land, and the faithfulness or failure of the nation.
Verses 2 through 8 form a single episode. God tells Joshua to circumcise the nation a second time, and verses 4 through 6 explain that the adults of the exodus generation died in the wilderness because of their disobedience. Verse 7 then identifies the children who are now circumcised. Read this way, verse 5 is the hinge: it names the group that had gone uncircumcised and sets up the command to correct that before Israel moves forward.
Key Phrases in Joshua 5:5
Genesis 17:10
This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.
(WEB)
This verse records God’s command to Abraham that every male be circumcised as a sign of the covenant. Reading it alongside Joshua 5:5 shows why the Israelites took the rite so seriously and why its neglect in the wilderness was a real break with the covenant God had made.
Deuteronomy 29:5
I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your shoes have not grown old on your feet.
(WEB)
Moses reminds Israel that God sustained them for forty years in the wilderness, with clothing and sandals that did not wear out. This verse helps explain the wilderness period in which the children of Joshua 5:5 were born, showing that God’s faithful care continued even through a season of testing.
A Short Prayer From Joshua 5:5
Lord, you kept your promises to Israel even when their obedience faltered for many years. I thank you for remembering your covenant and for giving your people a way back into faithful life. Help me to notice where I have let good practices lapse, and give me the courage to restore them before the next generation depends on them. Shape my family and my community so that we stand ready for what you are calling us to do. Amen.
