366px|thumb|right|Joshua praying God to stop the Sun by Gustave Doré

Joshua , Jehoshua, or Yehoshua ( , Tiberian: jəhoˈʃu^aʕ, Israeli: Yəhoshúa, Yashu‘ ibn Nūn), born in Egypt, was a biblical Israelite leader who succeeded Moses. His story is told in the Hebrew Bible, chiefly in the books Exodus, Numbers and Joshua. He was one of the twelve spies sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan who would later lead the conquest of that land, the Bible's Promised Land. He also holds a position of respect to Muslims; Sunnis consider him a prophet, while the Shi'ah believe he was an Imam.

There is no definite extrabiblical evidence for Joshua's existence;fact: date=May 2009 archeologist William G. Dever states, "The Biblical narratives about Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Solomon probably reflect some historical memories of people and places, but the 'larger than life' portraits of the Bible are unrealistic and contradicted by the archaeological evidence." According to conventional Bible chronology, the events Joshua is associated with would have happened around 1450 – 1370 B.C., or sometime in the late Bronze Age. He is noted as being Moses' apprentice and the leader of the Israelites during the Conquest of Canaan.

Name

The English name Joshua is a rendering of the , "Yehoshua", meaning means "Yahweh is Salvation," "Yahweh delivers", or "Yahweh rescues" from the Hebrew root hebrew: ישע, "salvation," "to deliver/be liberated," or "to be victorious" "salvation". It often lacks a Hebrew letter vav (hebrew: ו) after the shin (hebrew: ש), allowing a reading of the vocalization of the name as Yehoshea (hebrew: יְהוֹשֵׁעַ) - the name is described in the Torah as having been originally Hoshea before being changed to Yehoshua by Moses ( ).

In Biblical literature

According to the Bible, Joshua was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, which would become known as the most militaristic of the tribes of Israel, largely through Joshua's campaigns. He was born in Egypt prior to The Exodus, and was probably the same age as Caleb, with whom he is occasionally associated.

As Moses' apprentice, Joshua was a major figure in all the events of the Exodus. He accompanied Moses part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Exd. 32:17). He was one of the twelve spies who were sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (Num. 13:16, 17), and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report, a reward for which would be that only these two of the spies would enter the promised land (Num 14:23-24). He was commander at their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim (Ex. 17:8-16), in which they were victorious.