The Hebrew Meaning of "Jesus"

The name "Jesus" in English has a complicated linguistic history that isn't apparent in modern Bibles.

"Jesus" is an Anglicized form of the Greek name Iesous/Yesous ( ) found in the New Testament. Iesous/Yesous ( ) represents the Hebrew Bible name Yahusha, which occurs as "Jeshua" in English Bibles (Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7).

In Medieval English the "J" was pronounced as a "Y" is now.

Yeshua, in turn, is a shortened form of the name Yehoshua ("Joshua" in English Bibles), this came about by the introduction of the Mazoretic vowel points after the Babylonian Captivity. "Yahusha" Moses' right hand man, Joshua, has three names in the Bible. Originally, it was Husha, but Moses changed it to Yahusha (Numbers 13:16). During the Babylonian Exile, it was shorted to Yeshua (Nehemiah 8:17) and vowel points were added giving the name Yahusha the pronunciation of Yeshua.

Husha > Yahusha > Yeshua

"Yahusha" is a compound name consisting of two elements.

(1) The prefix "Yahu–" is an abbreviation of the Tetragrammaton, God's Four-Letter Name: Yod-Hay-Uau-Hay: YHUH.

In the Hebrew Bible "Yahu-" is used at the beginning of certain proper names: Jehoshaphat, Jehoiachin, Jehonathan (the "J" was The 4- pronounced as "Y" in Medieval English). The suffix form of the Tetragrammaton is "-yah" ("-iah" in Greek, as in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Letter Zechariah, or Halleluiah). Name

(2) The second element of the name Yahusha is a form of the Hebrew verb yasha which means to deliver, save, or rescue.

Thus, linguistically, the name Yahusha/Yahushua/Yeshua/Jesus conveys the idea that Yahuah (God) delivers or saves (His people), eventually through his servant messiah.

According to Matthew 1:21, "Yahusha/Yahushua/Yeshua/Jesus" is the name Yahuah (God) gave his Son. It is his original birth-name.

"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Yesous [Greek] / Yeshua [Aramaic], for it is he who will save his people from their sins."

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Note also the play on words on the name "Yeshua Messiah" that Hebrew speakers would hear in Acts 4:

"There is salvation [Heb. yeshuah] in no one else; for there is no other Name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved [Heb. yasha]" (v. 12).

"Yahusha" in "Yeshua" in "Yahusha" in Modern "Yeshua" in Modern Ancient Hebrew Ancient Hebrew Hebrew without vowel Aramaic with vowel points points

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