Yehoshua, son of Nun, belonged to the tribe of Ephraim. Born in Egypt according to tradition, he was originally named Hoshea; Moshe added the letter yud to his name when he was chosen as one of the twelve spies.

He was the servant and chief disciple of Moshe Rabbeinu, of whom the Torah says that he "would not depart from within the tent" (Exodus 33:11). He led the first battle after the Exodus, against Amalek at Rephidim. Sent with the twelve spies to Canaan, he and Calev alone brought back a favorable report about the land, against the ten who spoke ill of it.

As Moshe's successor he led the Children of Israel into the land of Canaan. He split the waters of the Jordan, as Moshe had split the Sea of Reeds, and then led the conquest of Jericho and Ai. During the battle of Gibeon he declared: "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the valley of Ayalon." He presided over the assemblies at Gilgal and Shiloh at which the land was allotted to the tribes. A tradition first recorded in the Kol Bo at the end of the fourteenth century attributes to him the composition of the Aleinu prayer upon entering the Land of Israel.

He died at the age of one hundred and ten (Joshua 24:29). According to later sources, including Megillat Ta'anit Batra, he died on 26 Nissan, the date of the traditional fast of Yehoshua; earlier sources from the Land of Israel give 18 Iyar. He was buried in his inheritance at Timnat Serach (called Timnat Cheres in the Book of Judges), in the hill country of Ephraim. Tradition identifies the site with the village of Kifl Haris in Samaria, where Jews come to pray from 26 Nissan, the day of his hilloula.