“Jesus” is the same name in Greek as the Hebrew name “Joshua.” In this verse King James Version‘s “Jesus” is corrected by all modern translations to Joshua. The meaning is clear if this is done. There is no need to add a note saying that “Joshua” and “Jesus” are the same in Greek.

If Joshua had given the people the rest may be expressed as “If Joshua had been able to cause the people to rest.” If the noun rest is rendered as a verb, “to rest,” then that God had promised may be translated as “in the way in which God had promised them.”

The people is implicit here in the Greek, but it is expressed in verse 9. God is also implicit, but is more probable here than “David,” especially if “David” in verse 7 is taken to mean the book of Psalms. In any case, God is the speaker in at least the later verses of this quotation (see introductory discussion on 3.7-11).

The verse clearly implies that Joshua did not give the people a place of rest. In some languages it is unnatural or impossible to speak in this way of conditions contrary to fact. If so, the condition in this sentence may be restructured as “Joshua was not able to cause people to rest as God had promised; therefore God had to speak later about another day.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .