The whole nation translates the same Hebrew phrase which in the preceding verse (3.17b) Good News Translation translates all the people; Revised Standard Version has “all the nation” in both places. This may also be rendered either “all (the) Israelites” or “all the people of Israel.” Since a new section is introduced here, the reader (or persons being read to) may not know immediately that it is the nation of Israel which is being referred to. Therefore the phrase may be translated “the whole nation of Israel.”

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 .