Origin of the name “Jesus”

Introduction

People frequently ask about the origin of the name Jesus. What is the underlying Greek name? What is His Hebrew name? Does His name really mean “Jehovah is Salvation” as Thayer’s dictionary states? How can you say that Father’s name isn’t Yahweh / Jehovah if Jesus’ name itself includes that name? Let’s start by addressing the origin of Jesus’ name and then we can address these questions.

Etymology and evolution of Jesus’ name

Hebrew origin of the name “Jesus”

To help with the discussion, refer to the diagram that shows the etymology and evolution of Jesus’ name all the way from Hebrew, to Greek, to Old English, to Modern English. The starting point is the Hebrew word yâsha‛ which is defined as follows:

H3467, יָשַׁע , yâsha‛ , yaw-shah’

Strong’s definition: A primitive root; properly to be open, wide or free, that is, (by implication) to be safe; causatively to free or succor: – X at all, avenging, defend, deliver (-er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save (-iour), get victory

Blue Letter Bible definition: to save, be saved, be delivered; to be liberated, be saved, be delivered; to be saved (in battle), be victorious; to save, deliver; to save from moral troubles; to give victory to

KJV Translation Count, 205 times: save (149x), savior (15x), deliver (13x), help (12x), preserved (5x), salvation (3x), avenging (2x), at all (1x), avenged (1x), defend (1x), rescue (1x), safe (1x), victory (1x)

What we see is that this word is all about salvation, being set free, deliverance, help, preservation, safety, rescue, victory, etc., and King James translators accurately rendered the word into related English words. From the salvation word yâsha‛, we then get Jesus’ actual Hebrew name which is Yêshûa‛ which is a word that means “He will save.” Let’s take a look at the definition below:

H3442, יֵשׁוּעַ , yêshûa‛ , yah-shoo’-ah , yay-shoo’-ah

Strong’s definition: he will save; Jeshua, the name of two Israelites, also of a place in Palestine: – Jeshua

KJV Translation Count, 29 times: Jeshua (29x)

The initial scriptures that introduce Jesus in the book of Matthew validate that His name is in fact Yêshûa‛ because they explain why He was given that name: “He will save His people from their sins.” The Holy Spirit through Matthew gave us the definition of the word Yêshûa‛ as the reason why He was given this name – because “He will save.” Amen! Truly we could end any debate right now about what His Hebrew name is, and what it means, as we have confirmation from the Holy Spirit by His inclusion of the definition of Yêshûa‛ in the verse.

Matthew 1:21 NKJV And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.

Progression into Greek & English

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, as the Romans occupied the land and therefore Greek was the common language spoken. In fact, Jesus Himself typically read scriptures from the Septuagint which is the Greek version of the Old Testament. Additionally, Jesus predominantly spoke in Greek, and occasionally He would make statements in Aramaic or Hebrew which then would be quoted in the native language in the midst of the otherwise Greek New Testament writings. An example of this would be Mark 5:41 where Jesus said, “Talitha, cumi” and then Mark went on to provide the translation of that into Greek so the reader would understand. This exemplifies that it was out of the ordinary to speak in the native language, and it was normal to speak in Greek. The majority of people think Jesus was predominantly speaking Aramaic or Hebrew, but that is simply not true.

Mark 5:41 NKJV Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

There are two common approaches to bridging words and names across languages. Translation is the most common approach used. Translation makes a connection between two words of different languages on the basis of the definition or meaning of those words. If someone were to translate directly from Hebrew to English, they would seek the best English word that aligns with the original Hebrew word on the basis of the word’s meaning. If I were to translate Yêshûa‛ to English, I would consider picking the English word Savior because it has the same definition as Yêshûa‛ does:

Yêshûa‛ = He will save

Savior = One that saves or preserves

Translation therefore seeks to find the most equivalent word in the second language, that ties to the meaning of the word in the original language. Sometimes, however, transliteration is used instead of translation. Transliteration is the process of transferring a word from the alphabet of one language to another. Transliteration has the objective of picking similar sounding characters in the second language that relate to the pronunciation of the word or name in the original language. Thus, transliteration helps people pronounce words and names in foreign languages. The objective is not to pick a word with similar meaning, but instead create a new word that sounds phonetically the same, or similar, as the native language.

The name Yêshûa‛ was not translated into Greek, rather it was transliterated into the name Iēsous (Strong’s G2424). Yêshûa‛ was pronounced yay-shoo’-ah which ties to Iēsous which is pronounced ee-ay-sooce’. Based on the phonetics, we have a similar sounding word in Greek which relates to the pronunciation of His name in Hebrew.

The same process of transliteration was done from Greek to Old English. Iēsous was converted into Iesus in Old English with the exact same pronunciation: ee-ay-sooce’. Sometime in the 1600’s the letter “J” was introduced as a fancy writing form of the letter “I”, and it did not have the “jay” pronunciation that we have today. Therefore, in the 1600’s the alphabet was evolving and there was a morphing from Iesus to Jesus, yet with the original pronunciation: ee-ay-sooce’. Over time the English language continued to evolve and we developed the “jay” pronunciation and we moved far from the original pronunciation of Yêshûa‛ (yay-shoo’-ah) and arrived at our modern pronunciation: jē’zəs.

I want to make it very clear! Regardless of how you say or spell Jesus’ name, if you associate the name with the Son of God, all the salvation and power of His name is still there – it still works – as long as whatever name you use is linked in your heart to the Son of God. I use the name Jesus with our modern pronunciation in English, and His name works! Don’t flip over and try to be Jewish using Hebrew renditions of His name. Remember that the disciples were using the Greek version of His name. So whether English, or Greek, or Hebrew, or any other rendition of His name, it will work effectively if you associate the name with the Savior.

Below is a summary flowchart that shows the transliteration path into Greek and Old English, then morph into Modern English.

Error: Jesus’ name is Yehôshûa‛ not Yêshûa‛

We must beware of what scholars and theologians teach, and check things out for ourselves. Think back to Jesus’ day… Who was furthest removed from Him? Who despised Him? Who plotted against Him to kill Him? Who did He reprimand the most? The scribes & pharisees who were the ‘bible scholars’ and religious leaders of Jesus’ day! What we are concerned about is that many ‘bible scholars’ define words and steer bible translation in support of their own doctrines and beliefs. Because the scholars believe that Yahweh / Jehovah is Father God, they therefore try to make the name of Jesus tie back to that name.

When we look up the underlying Greek word for “Jesus” in Thayer’s dictionary, we see the following:

G2424, Ἰησοῦς, Iēsous, Thayer Definition: Jesus = “Jehovah is salvation”

A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: of Hebrew origin H3091

Both Thayer’s and Strong’s Greek dictionaries say that the Hebrew origin of Jesus’ name is H3091 which is the name Yehôshûa‛ with the following definitions found in BDB and Strong’s Hebrew dictionaries:

H3091, יהושׁע / יהושׁוּע, yehôshûa‛, BDB Definition: Joshua or Jehoshua = “Jehovah is salvation”

H3091, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ / יְהוֹשׁוּעַ, yehôshûa‛, Strong’s Definition: Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua (that is, Joshua), the Jewish leader: – Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua

As we see with these dictionaries, many scholars proclaim that Jesus’ original name is Yehôshûa‛ and deny that His name is Yêshûa‛. We already saw in Matthew 1:21 that the Holy Spirit defined the name Jesus as “He will save” and therefore that should be sufficient proof that His name is in fact Yêshûa‛. However, a problem for many scholars is that the Greek language has rendered both Yêshûa‛ and Yehôshûa‛ into the same Greek word Iēsous. Thus, if your starting point in research of the name Jesus is from the Greek word Iēsous, it will lead you back to both Hebrew names, therefore the scholars pick Yehôshûa‛ as the original Hebrew name for Jesus because they like the fact that it includes the name Jehovah within it. They always try to make a linkage of Jesus to Jehovah. Silly scholars… if only they would pay attention to the Holy Spirit in Matthew 1:21, and if they would examine the Hebrew New Testament, they would discover that it uses the name Yêshûa‛ and does not use the name Yehôshûa‛! Take a look at the example verses below and you will see that the Hebrew characters for Jesus are in fact Yêshûa‛ and not Yehôshûa‛. Compare the highlighted words with the etymology chart which has the Hebrew characters. Throughout the Hebrew New Testament, Jesus’ name was consistently Yêshûa‛ and not Yehôshûa‛!

Error: Yêshûa‛ is derived from Yehôshûa‛

Other scholars will say that Yêshûa‛ is a shortened derivative of Yehôshûa‛ and therefore they try again to tie Jesus’ name to Jehovah in one way or another. They are actually backwards in their thinking! Yehôshûa‛ is a compound word that comes from multiple origin words. Yêshûa‛ combined with Yehôvâh yields the name Yehôshûa‛. There is a progression in meaning from Yêshûa‛ which means “he will save” to something more specific which is “Jehovah will save.” A compound word is derived from source words and is not the original word. It is absolutely wrong to say that the name Yêshûa‛ is derived from Yehôshûa‛! The truth is that Yêshûa‛ is a predecessor word to create the name Yehôshûa‛! Take another look at the etymology chart and you can even see the Hebrew characters from Yâsha‛ lead to Yêshûa‛, and then characters from Yêshûa‛ and Yehôvâh combine to make the characters of Yehôshûa‛. Amen! The conclusion is that Yehôshûa‛ is derived from Yêshûa‛ and not the other way around. Jesus’ name is not linked to the name Jehovah!

In conclusion

In summary, we’ve seen multiple proof points that show that Jesus’ name is Yêshûa‛ and it is not tied in any way to the name Jehovah. We saw that Yêshûa‛ means “He will save” which is the same definition that Holy Spirit provided in Matthew 1:21. We saw from the Hebrew New Testament that His name is in fact Yêshûa‛ and not Yehôshûa‛. We saw that Yêshûa‛ was not derived from Yehôshûa‛, rather the other way around. Additionally, we saw the transliteration from Hebrew, to Greek, to English. Even the transliteration proves that the origin word was Yêshûa‛ because the Greek word Iēsous mimics the pronunciation of Yêshûa‛ and not Yehôshûa‛. I hope that you are now convinced about the origin of Jesus’ name! God bless you!