Josue 5:6
During the forty years of the journey in the wide wilderness, were uncircumcised: till all they were consumed that had not heard the voice of the Lord, and to whom he had sworn before, that he would not shew them the land flowing with milk and honey.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- per quadraginta annos itineris latissimæ solitudinis incircumcisus fuit : donec consumerentur qui non audierant vocem Domini, et quibus ante juraverat ut non ostenderet eis terram lacte et melle manantem.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- διὸ οἱ ἀπερίτμητοι ἦσαν οἱ πλεῖστοι αὐτῶν τῶν μαχίμων τῶν ἐξεληλυθότων ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, οἱ ἀπειθήσαντες τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, οἷς καὶ διώρισεν μὴ ἰδεῖν αὐτοὺς τὴν γῆν ἣν ὤμοσεν Κύριος τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμῶν δοῦναι, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כִּ֣י אַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֗ה הָלְכ֣וּ בְנֵֽי יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ בַּמִּדְבָּר֒ עַד תֹּ֨ם כָּל הַגּ֜וֹי אַנְשֵׁ֤י הַמִּלְחָמָה֙ הַיֹּצְאִ֣ים מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא שָׁמְע֖וּ בְּק֣וֹל יְהוָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֤ע יְהוָה֙ לָהֶ֔ם לְבִלְתִּ֞י הַרְאוֹתָ֣ם אֶת הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁר֩ נִשְׁבַּ֨ע יְהוָ֤ה לַֽאֲבוֹתָם֙ לָ֣תֶת לָ֔נוּ אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָֽשׁ
Haydock's commentary
Forty. Some copies of the Septuagint add, "two," as if the 40 years' wandering in the desert, were to be dated from the time that the spies discouraged the people, in the second year of their departure from Egypt. But the Hebrew and the best chronologers allow only 40 years in the whole. (Calmet)
Hebrew, "For the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness, till all the men fit for war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, unto whom the Lord swore that he would not shew them the land, which the Lord swore unto their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey; (7) and their children he raised up in their stead, them Josue circumcised." (Haydock)
The Septuagint is also rather fuller than the Vulgate but gives the same sense. These children who receive, what their rebellious fathers had been refused, are a sensible figure of the Christian Church; as that second circumcision under Josue, represents the spiritual cleansing of the heart, which Jesus Christ has enjoined, Romans ii. 28., and 1 Corinthians vii. 19.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Damascene An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Concerning the Circumcision
The Circumcision was given to Abraham before the law, after the blessings, after the promise, as a sign separating him and his offspring and his household from the Gentiles with whom he lived. And this is evident, for when the Israelites passed forty years alone by themselves in the desert, having no intercourse with any other race, all that were born in the desert were uncircumcised: but when Joshua led them across Jordan, they were circumcised, and a second law of circumcision was instituted. For in Abraham’s time the law of circumcision was given, and for the forty years in the desert it fell into abeyance. …