Jesus, Joshua, Yahshua, Yeshua, Yasha, Yahusha, Yahushua, Yahawashi, or Yehoshua?
There are numerous scriptures which show us the importance of his name, we should at least seek to understand how it is pronounced. It is obviously important according to scripture.
The first three letters of the father's name can be found in the name of the son.
The name of the son is listed in the Hebrew Scriptures as a 5 letter spelling and a 6 letter spelling:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Origin of the name "Jesus"
English is normally divided into three languages: Old English, spoken from about 500 AD to about 1000 AD. Middle English was spoken from about 1000 AD to about 1500 AD. Pre-Modern English was from about 1500 to about 1800 and then modern english from 1800 until today.
Most of us can understand Shakespeare with a bit of effort. He wrote in Modern English. Middle English and Old English are so different that they could be considered separate languages.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the etymological origin of "Jesus" is Middle English, from Late Latin Isus, from Greek Isous, from Hebrew yû‘, from yhôûa‘, Joshua...
Notice that it says that the origin of His name is from Latin, then Greek, then Hebrew. So the name "Jesus" is the result of 3 different languages placing their influence on the original name. The disciples were proclaiming, baptizing in and praying in his original name. In the 1611 King James Version, it originally had "Iesus" instead of "Jesus". Later revisions of the KJV changed it to "Jesus".
This leads me to ask some important questions: "Who decided to changed the name of The Messiah and upon what authority? And if he is supposed to be the same yesterday, today and forever, why do they keep changing his name?"
If you look up the name "Jesus" in a Strong's lexicon it has "Iesous":
"2424 Iesous ee-ay-sooce' of Hebrew origin (3091); Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites:--Jesus."
Notice that it traces the name of Messiah to Hebrew word #3091 in the Strong's lexicon. This name is the same name as "Joshua, Son of Nun".
In the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures that was completed many years before The Messiah came to earth, also rendered the Hebrew name as IhsouV(Iesous). This fact alone clearly demonstrates that "Iesous" is a Greek form and wasn't a form invented by apostate Christians who wanted to honor Zeus in some way.
Interestingly, there is evidence that although the name of The Messiah was written in Greek as IhsouV, it may have actually been pronounced the way a Hebrew speaking person would pronounce it. Around 178 CE, a pagan by the name of Celsus engaged in written debates with Christians. In one of them, Celsus (speaking of Christians) said:
"But of course they think otherwise: they assume that by pronouncing the name of their teacher they are armored against the powers of the earth and air. And they are quite insistent on the efficacy of the name as a means of protection: pronounce it improperly, they say, and it is ineffective. Greek and Latin will not do; it must be said in a barbarian tongue to work. Silly as they are, one finds them standing next to a a statue of Zeus or Apollo or some other god, and shouting, "see here: I blaspheme it and strike it, but it is powerless against me for I am a Christian." Celsus on the True Doctrine, A Discourse Against the Christians, R. Joseph Hoffman (page118)
Notice that Celsus was quoting Christians as saying that the name of "their teacher" (Yahusha no doubt) must not be spoken "improperly" and that it must not be spoken in a "Greek" way or "Latin" way, but in a "Barbarian tongue" for it to be effective. Of course, to the pagans the Hebrew language was nothing more than a barbarian language. This lends evidence that even though the name of The Messiah was written as IhsouV, there were at least some people speaking it in the Hebrew way. The Greek alphabet simply lacks the letters necessary to correctly convey how the name is pronounced in Hebrew.
So how is the name pronounced? Let's start with the form that is found in various Hebrew Lexicons: "Yehoshua".
In the Strong's concordance and other Hebrew Lexicons, the pronunciation listed for the Messiah's name is typically "Yehoshua". While I do not believe we should be getting all of our Hebrew learning from a Strong's lexicon alone (that would be dangerous), most of us do own a Strong's Concordance so I will be using it during this study for the purposes of illustration.
The reason for the "Yehoshua" pronunciation is due to the Hebrew vowel pointing added by the Masorite scribes. The vowel points are the little dots and dashes under and above certain Hebrew letters. Unlike English, Hebrew was written with mostly all consonants. It was up to the reader to supply the vowels in each word based on the context of the word. The Masorites were concerned that Hebrew was becoming a lost language so they invented the vowel point system to preserve the sounds of the Hebrew language. However, in keeping with tradition they were not interested in letting everyone speak the pronunciation of the Heavenly Father's name. For this reason, they pointed the Heavenly Father's name to produce the sound "Yehovah".
To avoid speaking the Heavenly Father's name, the Jewish tradition was to say "Adonai" ("Lord") instead of YHUH. For this reason, our English bibles also say "LORD" instead of "YHUH". So rather than supplying the true vowels of the Heavenly Father's name, the scribes inserted the vowels for "Adonai" so that the reader would be reminded to say "Adonai" rather than YHUH.
But what if the Hebrew scriptures contained a phrase such as "Adonai YHUH" (Master YHUH)? They would then have to say "Adonai Adonai", a rather odd (if not a bit embarrassing) phrase. Their solution was to put the vowel points for "Elohim" within the Heavenly Father's name so that they would be reminded to say "Adonai Elohim" instead of "Adonai adonai". This is even mentioned in the Strong's lexicon and it lists it as a different word number. Read what it says:
"136" is the Hebrew word "Adonai" and "430" is the Hebrew word "Elohim". So these vowel points are used within the Father's name whenever His name follows 136 (Adonai). And they pronounce this as 430 (Elohim) to avoid having to say Adonai twice. For this reason, many English translations will render "Adonai YHUH" as "the Lord GOD" with "GOD" being in all capitals to let the reader know that this is where the sacred name is found in the Hebrew. Very few even know that this is why "GOD" is sometimes in all capital letters (See Gen 15:2 for one of hundreds of examples of this). It is amazing how far men will go in order to cleave to tradition!
So how does this relate to the pronunciation of the Messiah's name? Let's take a look at His name again in the Strong's Lexicon:
Notice that there are other names listed in the Strong's concordance which contain the first three letters of YHUH's name. And just like YHUH's name which starts with the "Yeho" vowel points, they use the "Yeho" vowel points in "Yehoram", "Yehosheba", "Yehoshaphat" and numerous other names which contain the first part of YHUH's name.
The scribes apparently did not want anyone to accidentally pronounce the Heavenly Father's name when saying these other names, so they changed the vowel points of those names as well.
Interestingly, they did not change the pronunciation of these same three letters when it was at the end of a person's name. For instance, look at how Zechariah's name is presented in the Hebrew text:
Notice the different vowel pointing and pronunciation herein ("ZecharYahu"). Phonetically, the first three letters in the Heavenly Father's name are also pronounced "Yahu". For this reason, the Heavenly Father's name can be written as "YAHUH" or "YHUH" and the same pronunciation will result.
They even used the correct vowel pointing in "HalleluYah". Thus, the only time they would revert to the "Yeho" pronunciation of these three letters was when it was at the beginning of a Hebrew name. But I want nothing to do with the unscriptural tradition of saying "Adonai/Lord/God" in place of YHUH. That is one reason I do not refer to the Messiah as "Yehoshua".
Having said this, there are some Hebrew students and scholars who have noticed that a natural progression of Hebrew language is to shorten the first vowel and lengthen the second whenever the accent is on the third syllable (in this case "shu") of a Hebrew word. This would indeed result in the "Y'hoshua" or "Yehoshua" pronunciation. For this reason, some believe "Yehoshua" to actually be the correct pronunciation.
But while this may be true in normal Hebrew words, there is plenty of evidence to support that this was not true in personal names--especially with names containing the first part of YHUH's name. The Murashu texts, dated 5th century BCE and written on clay tablets in cuneiform script, list the names of about 70 Jewish settlers in Persia. In these tablets, vowels are used. The Hebrew names which begin with Yod Heh Waw all are written "Yahu-" and never "Y'ho".
"In the cuneiform texts Yeho [YHU] and Yah [YH] are written Yahu, as for example in the names Jehu (Yahu), Jehoahaz (Yahu-khazi) and Hezekiah (Khazaqi-yahu)" A. H. Sayce in "Higher Criticism" notes on p. 87
Notice that not only were names beginning with "Yeho" written as "Yahu", but also names beginning with "Yo" such as "Yochanan" (John) and "Yoel" (Joel) were written as "Yahu". This indicates John and Joel were originally "Yahuchanan" and "Yahu'al".
Also, cuneiform tablets (also containing vowels) were discovered near the Ishtar gate in Babylon which give a list of workers and captives to whom rations were given. In addition to validating the biblical account in 2Kings 25:27-29 where it mentions that Jehoiachin (Yahuiachin) ate at the King's table, these tablets help to establish the way these names were pronounced before the Masorite scribes inserted their vowel pointings based on tradition:
"Yahukin, king of the land of Yahud," ("Jehoiachin, the king of the land of Judah")
Another witness is found in an inscription of the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-pileser III (Gressmann Bilder 348; ANET 282a). When listing those kings who were paying tribute to this Assyrian King, it mentions "Yauhazi", also known as "Ahaz". Various lexicons such as the New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon (p. 219 b) and the Hebrew Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (under "Ahaz") mention this inscription as well.
With all the evidence, it becomes clear that the name was never originally pronounced "Yehoshua". Rather "Yahushua" is more correct and there is no reason to mispronounce the Heavenly Father's name when speaking the name of His Son. Just as names which end with a reference to YHUH correctly convey the Father's name ("ZecharYah/ZecharYahu"), so do the names which begin with it.
If you notice closely, this name does not have the father's name in it.
Much used by the Messianic movement, "Yeshua" is actually an Aramaic form of the Hebrew name "Yahushua". In the Hebrew script, it is not spelled the same as Yahushua. The "Yeshua" name, spelled (Yod Shin Uau Ayin), is found in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra where it lists the names of those who returned from the Babylonian exile. One of them is called "Jeshua, the son of Jozadak":
Ezra 3:2 Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the Elohim of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of Elohim.
"Jeshua the Son of Jozadak" is the same High Priest mentioned in Zechariah 6:11
Zechariah 6:11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;
Notice that in Zechariah, he is not called "Jeshua the son of Jozadak" but he is called "Joshua the son of Josedech" (Heb. Yahusha the son of Yahutsadak). This reflects the Hebrew spelling of the same name. So in Zechariah, he is called Yahusha but in Ezra he is called Yeshua. The book of Nehemiah also changes the name of Joshua the son of Nun to "Jeshua, the son of Nun":
Nehemiah 8:17 And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.
The change in spelling to "Jeshua/Yeshua" ("Yod Shin Uau Ayin" ) is due to the Aramaic influence during the exile. In fact, parts of the book of Ezra are written in Aramaic. For confirmation, look at your Strong's Lexicon:
Notice that #3442 and #3443 are the same exact word with the same Hebrew spelling, but this lexicon lists them separately. Why is this? Well, if you looked up "Jeshua" in the concordance, you will notice that it lists "Jeshua" in Ezra 3:2 as coming from #3442 and "Jeshua" in Ezra 5:2 coming from #3443. The reason for the two different Strong's word numbers is Ezra 5:2 is a part of the book of Ezra which was written in Aramaic (Ezra 4:8 through 6:18; 7:12-26). This is why #3443 mentions "Yeshuwa" as coming from "Chaldean" in the above definition (3443.Yeshuwa' (Chald.)). Therefore, "Yeshua" is actually an Aramaic rendering of The Messiah's name.
Now, some claim that Yeshua is a pure Hebrew word which isn't derived from "Yahushua" at all, but that it is a Hebrew word meaning "Salvation". The problem with that is the Hebrew word for "Salvation" is not (yeshua) at all! The Hebrew word for "Salvation" is word number #3444. Take a look again in the above lexicon graphic and see the differences between 3442/3443 and 3444.
There is an additional Hebrew letter at the end (the "Heh"). uses the silent (but anciently guttural) "Ayin" letter to end the word, but #3444 ends in the letter "Heh". The different spelling indicates they are two different words.
So the name "Yeshua" and the Hebrew word "Y'shuah" are not the same. "Yeshua" is the Aramaic form of "Yahushua" and "Y'shuah" is the Hebrew word for "Salvation". Therefore, in spite of what some may say, I find no evidence to suggest that ("Yeshua") means "Salvation" in Hebrew. "Yeshua" is actually not an authentic Hebrew word meaning "salvation". For it to mean "Salvation" it would have to have the Hebrew letter "heh" added to the end of it, changing the spelling to Yod Shin Uau Ayin Heh and it would need to have the "Sheva" vowel point under the Yod. These things further indicate that "Yeshua" isn't from Hebrew, but is an Aramaic form of "Yahushua".
Since the Heavenly Father's name (YHUH) is a Hebrew name, I would not expect to see His Son's name coming from some other language, whether it be Greek, Latin, Aramaic or English. If neither of these languages do it right, why not return to the original and correct form?
This is another popular way of writing the Messiah's name but I have never seen an example of this word anywhere in scripture.
This spelling of The Messiah's name cannot be found in scripture: Yahshua
It appears to have its origins in the Sacred Name movement in the 1930's when certain men saw that "Jesus" was derived from "Joshua". Since they understood that the "J" sound is not in the Hebrew language, "Yahshua" was apparently considered correct. It made sense so I used this form for many years. However, I later learned that "Yahshua" clearly ignores the third letter of the Messiah's name (U) which gives us the "oo" (u) sound in Yahushua or Yahusha. To demonstrate this, let's look at the individual letters of .
- Produces a "Y" or "I" sound.
- As a Hebrew vowel letter it produces the "H" sound and the "ah" sound would have to be supplied by the reader (A-Type Vowel) between the "Y" and the "H".
- Called "Uau". As a Hebrew vowel letter it produces an "oo" (u) or "oh" sound (like in #7307 Ruach). This is the ignored letter in the pronunciation "Yahshua". This letter is nowhere represented.
- Produces the "sh" sound.
- Silent without vowel points.
So if the Messiah's name was "Yahshua", we would have to delete the third letter (U) in to make a four letter name. For this reason, cannot not be pronounced "Yahshua".
There are some who claim that "Yahshua" is actually the correct pronunciation of the Aramaic word ("Yeshua") and the Hebrew scribes simply took out the proper vowel sounds, replacing the "Yah" with "Ye".
Since we seek to walk in the truth, we should want to proclaim His name as YHUH gave it. YHUH is the one who named His Son and we simply have no business changing it. It is all these changes that have brought about the confusion. It can be complicated to sort through it all, but truth seeking is an honorable thing that is pleasing in YHUH's eyes.
Notice in the Hebrew letters that there are two spellings of the Messiah's name. The first spelling has 6 letters and the second spelling has 5 letters but they both sound the same with the modern hebrew vowel points. Without the vowel points they sound differently. Both spellings are used in scripture. The predominant spelling is but the longer spelling is also found in scripture. Here are two places where the longer spelling is employed:
Deuteronomy 3:21 "And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that YHUH your Elohim has done to these two kings; so will YHUH do to all the kingdoms through which you pass.
Judges 2:7 So the people served YHUH all the days of Joshua , and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua , who had seen all the great works of YHUH which He had done for Israel. (Notice the 5 and 6 letter spelling both appearing in the same passage of scripture).
Here is how each letter is pronounced:
- Produces a "Y" or "I" sound.
- As a Hebrew letter it can produce the "H".
Called "Uau". As a Hebrew vowel letter it can produce an "oo" (u) sound like in #7307 Ruach.
- Produces the "sh" sound. The following "oo" sound is indicated by a vowel pointing but Deut. 3:21 and Judges 2:7 actually gives us another "Uau" after this letter, proving the "shu" pronunciation as valid.
- Again this should be "U" because there is no "W" in Hebrew. This letter produces an "oo" (u) sound as in #7307 Ruach.
- Silent without a vowel point.
Let me introduce you to the two silent letters in Hebrew:
These consonants carry a gutteral sound in Hebrew but in English they are silent.
"Yah_oo_shoo'eh". The ayin is represented by the "apostrophe symbol" and the letters ae sounds like the letter "A" as in "ACT".. The Strong's word #3444 is pronounced "Yashuah" but it is derived from the verb #3467 "Yasha'eh or yash'eh" This shows that the "shua" sound can indeed be derived from the root word for salvation, It's just the Passive Participle form of the verb "Yasha." "Yahushua without vowel points would have to look like this to produce the "SHUA" sound being the passive participle of the verb "Yasha":
The 'A-Type Vowel" produces the "ah" sound between the "Hey" and the "Ayin" consonants. This seven letter spelling of The Messiah's name cannot be found in Scripture.
What do we know about the six letter spelling of the name? It has the father's name in it but what does the last part "Shua or Shoo'ah" means?
Remember the consonants "Ayin" and "Aleph"? When two consonants are put together in Hebrew, they require the "A-type Vowel" between them even though they are silent. This is how the "SHUA" sound is produced above! "SHUA" meaning wealth comes from the Root Word "SHU-ae" or "SHOO-eh". The 'eh' sound as in the word ACT.
Yasha is a Hebrew verb that means "to save". This is not the name of The Messiah!
Yahawashi or Yahawasha?
Yahawashi is based upon the five letter spelling of The Messiah's name. The English transliteration is YHWSH-. There is no letter "W" in the Hebrew Language. The "-" represents the Hebrew letter "Ayin". The creator of this name recognized the need to put the "A-Type Vowel" in between each consonant to get YaHaWaSha. How did Yahawashi come about? Good question. It seems as if it is just a difference in pronunciation of the name. In order to get the name YaHaWaShi, it would have to look like this in Scripture:
Another theory is that the Hebrew consonant called the "Ayin" means "Eye" literally. The letter "I" may have been given to the Hebrew letter "Ayin" due to this. The "Ayin" is a silent consonant.
This name, which is the five letter spelling, appears 216 times in Scripture. Whenever you look this name up in the concordances, it will give you the 6 letter spelling "Yahushua". It is very easy to see why Yahusha'eh & Yahushua can be mistaken as the same name. This name (Yahusha'eh) is a composed of the Father's Name and the Hebrew verb Yasha which means " to save".
Numbers 13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua. (Notice the five letter spelling of the name in the Hebrew Interlinear Bible)
Let's look up the name Oshea or Husha'eh
Moses called the name of the Son of Nun Yahusha instead of Husha (the five letter spelling of the name instead of the six letter spelling).
YHUH predicted what His Son's name would be, so we have something we can look to for clarification. In the book of Zechariah, it states:
Zechariah 6:9-13 And the word of YHUH came unto me, saying, 10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; 11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua [YAHUSHA] the son of Josedech, the high priest; 12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh YHUH of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of YHUH: 13 Even he shall build the temple of YHUH; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
"The Branch" is a prophetic reference to the coming Messiah who would be a Priest AND King (Compare Psalm 110, Isaiah 9:6).
So Zechariah was instructed to take a crown and place it on the head of Yahusha (in the Hebrew it has ), the son of Yahutsadak. Yahutsadak means "YHUH is righteous". When placing the crown on the head of the High Priest, Zechariah was told to proclaim:
"Behold the man whose NAME is the BRANCH".
Thus, this High Priest (Yahusha) had the same name as the coming Messiah who would reign as a priest on His throne. YHUH revealed what His name would be, so why not call Him by that name? We see the examples of the apostles who were proclaiming His name, baptizing in His name, healing in His name, being persecuted for His name, etc. Let's be willing to do the same by using the Messiah's name as it is written and understood in Hebrew with a very important Hebrew meaning:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Yahusha Messiah for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Yahusha Messiah of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
Acts 3:16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which [comes] through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
Acts 4:7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?"
Acts 4:10 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Yahusha Messiah of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom Elohim raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Acts 4:17 "But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name." 18 And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Yahusha.
Acts 4:30 "by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Yahusha."
Acts 5:28 saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man's blood on us!"
Acts 5:40 And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten [them], they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Yahushua, and let them go. 41 So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of Elohim and the name of Yahusha Messiah, both men and women were baptized.
Acts 8:16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Master Yahusha.
Acts 9:14 "And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Master said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake."
Acts 9:21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, "Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?"
Acts 9:27 But Barnabas took him and brought [him] to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Master on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Yahusha.
Acts 9:29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Master Yahushua and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.
Acts 10:43 "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins."
Acts 15:14 "Simon has declared how Alahiym at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
Acts 15:26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Master Yahusha Messiah.
Acts 16:18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Yahusha Messiah to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.
Acts 18:15 "But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look [to] [it] yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such [matters]."
Acts 19:5 When they heard [this], they were baptized in the name of the Master Yahusha.
Acts 19:13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Master Yahusha over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Yahusha whom Paul preaches."
Acts 19:17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Master Yahusha was magnified.
Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Master Yahusha."
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