This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, has to say may be rendered, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says to you.”

On the other side of the Euphrates River (Hebrew “on the other side of the river”) means “on the east bank of the Euphrates River,” that is Mesopotamia (see the account in Gen 11.27–12.9). The point is made that Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, was not a worshiper of the Lord.

Other gods may be translated “foreign gods” or “the gods of the people in that land.” It may also be expressed “gods other than me, the LORD.”

One of those ancestors was Terah sounds a bit odd, as though Joshua was informing the Israelites of an ancestor they did not know they had. It may sound more natural to translate “This went on until the time of Terah.” Or “This was true, even of your ancestor Terah.”

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 .