Joshua 5:7

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Their children, whom he raised up in their place, them did Joshua circumcise: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Download a study sheet

One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.

This verse Autodidact and up

Study sheet (.html) Plain text (.txt)

A passage Seminary Student

Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.

Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.

Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

Word by word

More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →

Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →

עֲרֵלִ֣ים

ʻârêl

H6189

“uncircumcised”

Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Plural, Absolute

Appears 35× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 17:14

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6188

TWOT: 1695b

uncircumcised, having foreskin

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

15: words
11: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

עֲרֵלִ֣ים uncircumcised H6189 occurs in 32 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
3 nouns
1 adjective
1 preposition
2 conjunctions
4 particles

Verb forms

הֵקִ֣ים Hiphil · Perfect
מָ֣ל Qal · Perfect
הָי֔וּ Qal · Perfect
מָ֥לוּ Qal · Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

מָ֣ל to circumcise H4135 ×2
כִּי that H3588 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 26 words from the Hebrew and 22 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 15 Hebrew tokens and 19 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Joshua 5:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 14:31 But your little ones, that you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
Deuteronomy 1:39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 5:7 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאֶת בְּנֵיהֶם֙ הֵקִ֣ים תַּחְתָּ֔ם אֹתָ֖ם מָ֣ל יְהוֹשֻׁ֑עַ כִּי עֲרֵלִ֣ים הָי֔וּ כִּ֛י לֹא מָ֥לוּ אוֹתָ֖ם בַּדָּֽרֶךְ

Their children, whom he raised up in their place, them did Joshua circumcise: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 5:7 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀντί δέ οὗτος ἀντι καταἵστημι ὁ υἱός αὐτός ὅς ἰησοῦς περιτέμνω διά ὁ αὐτός γίγνομαι κατά ὁ ὁδός ἀπερίτμητος

And in their place he raised up their sons, whom Joshua circumcised, because they were uncircumcised, having been born by the way.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְיַת בְּנֵיהוֹן דְקָמוּ בַתְרֵיהוֹן יַתְהוֹן גְזַר יְהוֹשֻעַ אֲרֵי עֲרֵלִין הֲווֹ אֲרֵי לָא גְזָרוּ יַתְהוֹן בְּאָרְחָא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 5:7 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Jos 5:7. Their children — them Joshua circumcised — This God now required to be done, 1st, As a testimony of his reconciliation to the people, and that he would not further impute their parents’ rebellion to them, but now permit them to enter into his rest. See Num 14:29 to Num 35:2 d, Because one great impediment of circumcision was now removed, their continued travels, and frequent and uncertain removes. 3d, To prepare them for the approaching passover. 4th, To distinguish them from the Canaanites, into whose land they were now come. 5th, To try their faith, by their submission to a command, the performance of which exposed them to be treated by their enemies as the Shechemites had been formerly by Simeon and Levi in a similar circumstance. 6th, To ratify the covenant between God and them, whereof circumcision was a sign and seal, to assure them that he would now make good his covenant, in giving them this land; and to oblige them to perform all the duties to which that covenant bound them, as soon as they came into Canaan, Exo 12:25; Lev 23:10; Num 15:2.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And the children whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised,.... Who were born to them in the wilderness, and succeeded them, some of which might be near forty years of age; as for those that were born before, of which there might be many now living, they had been circumcised already, but others, were not:

for they were circumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way; or while journeying the forty years in the wilderness; which, as before observed, seems to be the true reason of the omission of circumcision.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Them Joshua circumcised; which God would have now done,

1. As a testimony of God’s reconciliation to the people, of which circumcision was a sign, and that God would not further impute their parents’ rebellions to them.

2. Because the great impediment of circumcision was now removed, to wit, their continued travels, and frequent and uncertain removal.

3. To prepare them for the approaching passover.

4. To distinguish them from the Canaanites, into whose land they were now come.

5. To ratify the covenant between God and them, where of circumcision was a sign and seal, to assure them that God would now make good his covenant, in giving them this land; and to oblige them to perform all the duties and services to which that covenant bound them, of which circumcision was the beginning and foundation, all which they were expressly joined to do, as soon as ever they came into Canaan, Exo 12:25; Lev 23:10; Num 15:2.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Circumcised - Which God would have done,

1. As a testimony of God's reconciliation to the people, and that he would not farther impute their parents rebellion to them.

2. Because the great impediment of circumcision was now removed, their continued travels, and frequent and uncertain removal.

3. To prepare them for the approaching passover.

4. To distinguish them from the Canaanites, into whose land they were now come.

5. To ratify the covenant between God and them, whereof circumcision was a sign and seal, to assure them that God would now make good his covenant, in giving them this land; and to oblige them to perform all the duties to which that covenant bound them, as soon as they came into Canaan, Exod. xii, 25 Lev. xxiii, 10 Num. xv, 2.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

And their children whom He brought up in place of them. And their children whom He brought up in place of them, they were born in the wilderness it was them whom Yehoshua circumcised.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 15 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻârêl (“uncircumcised”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ʻârêl carries the sense “uncircumcised.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 17:14 shares the word «uncircumcised» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“to circumcise” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «הֵקִ֣ים» is Hiphil Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Joseph Benson's Commentary and John Gill's Exposition read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 15 Hebrew ↔ 19 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
“to circumcise” occurs 2× in this single verse.
11 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 15 words in this verse.