The book opens in the Hebrew as a continuation of the narrative in Deuteronomy 34: “And it was … and the Lord spoke to Joshua … saying.” The death of Moses is reported in Deuteronomy 34.1-8; after leading the people for 40 years, he dies at age 120 without being permitted to enter the promised land. His successor is his helper, Joshua son of Nun.Joshua first appears when Moses sends twelve men, one from each of the tribes, from the wilderness of Paran, where the Israelites are camped (Num 12.16), to explore the land of Canaan (Num 13.1–14.10); of the twelve, only Joshua (from the tribe of Ephraim) and Caleb (from the tribe of Judah) believe that the Israelites can defeat the Canaanites; the others are afraid and are killed by the Lord for their cowardice (Num 14.36-38). Later Joshua is chosen as Moses’ successor (Num 27.12-23; Deut 31.1-8). The name Joshua means “Yah (a shortened form of Yahweh) saves” or “May Yah save.” In Num 13.16 we are told that Moses had changed his name from Hoshea to Joshua; the two names mean the same. The Greek form of Joshua is Iesous, translated “Jesus” in English. The Hebrew word translated helper means “servant” (Revised Standard Version); New American Bible (New American Bible) “aide”; New English Bible (New English Bible) “assistant”; Soggin “minister.” Moses himself is the Lord’s servant, a title used more often of him than of anyone else (applied also to Joshua in 24.29).

After the death of … Moses may be translated “After Moses had died.” In many languages it will be difficult, if not impossible, to include in one statement both bits of information: (1) “After Moses died” and (2) “Moses was the LORD’s servant.” And some translations have even omitted from this verse the information that Moses was the Lord’s servant. However, this information is in the Hebrew, and it does need to be included somewhere in the translation, though not necessarily at this place (see comments at verse 2). In order to include all of the information in a manner that is natural, one may need to translate this verse as two sentences: “Moses had served the LORD, and Joshua son of Nun had been Moses’ helper. After Moses died, the LORD spoke to Joshua.” Or, “As long as Moses lived he served the LORD, and Joshua son of Nun helped him. When Moses died, the LORD told Joshua what to do.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .