What is His Son’s Name?
Pr 30:4 Who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?
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Jesus means?
Why do our Bibles call the Savior by the name Jesus which is neither Jewish nor Hebrew? “Jesus” is a hybrid Latin-Greek word.
1611 KJV
In the original 1611 printing of the King James Bible the word “Jesus” is not to be found, not even once (Iesus is used).
A Hebrew child, a Hebrew name
Why would a Jewish maiden, whose native tongue was Hebrew, living in a Jewish community of Hebrews, who was spoken to in Hebrew by Gabriel, give her newborn child a hybrid Latin-Greek name?
Saviour, soter or salvare
The Greek word for savior is “soter,” while the Latin is “salvare.” No part of either word is found in “Jesus,” a name with no recorded meaning in any language. Yet the angel in Mt. 1:21 explained His name would mean salvation. What for? “For he shall save his people from their sins.”
Independent References
Funk & Wagnall’s Encyclopedia Corporation’s Microsoft Encarta, 1994.
The name Jesus is derived from a Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Joshua, or in full Yehoshuah.
The New Bible Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1986, pg. 584.
The name Jesus is not strictly a title for the person who bore it. It is however a name with a meaning, being a Greek form of Joshua, i.e. ‘Yahweh is salvation’. The NT writers were well aware of this meaning (Mt. 1:21).
Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, 1971, pg. 456.
Jesus / noun [Late Latin, from Greek Iesous, from Hebrew Yeshua]
Matthew A Commentary, by Fredrick Dale Bruner, Vol. 1, The Christ Book, pg. 25.
The Greek name Iesous is the Hellenizing of the Hebrew “Yeshua” (familiar to us as “Joshua”) a shortening of “Ye-ho-shuah,” and means “Yah(weh) is the one who saves.”
New Explorers Study Bible for Kids, pg. 1226.
The name Jesus comes from the Old Testament name Yeshua or Joshua. In the New Testament the name was written in the Greek language. Both of these spellings have the same meaning. They mean “the Lord is Salvation.”
W. E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, vol. 2, pg. 274.
Jesus – Iesous is a transliteration of the Hebrew “Joshua,” meaning ‘Jehovah is salvation,’ i.e., ‘is the Saviour,’ a common name amoung the Jews.
A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. 1, pg. 10.
“Jesus is the same as Joshua, a contraction of Jehoshuah (Nu. 13:16; 1 Ch. 7:27), signifying in Hebrew, ‘Jehovah is helper,’ or ‘Help of Jehovah’” (Broadus). So Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua (He. 4:8).
Adam Clarke, Clarke Commentary, vol. 3, pg. 39.
Mt. 1:21. JESUS] the same as Joshua.
Also vol. 3, pg. 393-394. “Through the ignorance and carelessness of transcribers innumerable mistakes have been made in ancient names. These also have suffered very greatly in their transfusion from one language to another, till at last the original name is almost totally lost. Examples might be multiplied without end; a very few will suffice: Yehoshua (according to the Masoretic punctuation) of the Hebrew Bible, is changed into Joshua and Jesus; Yeshayahoo into Isaiah and Esaias; Eliyahoo into Elijah and Elias. Besides, neither the Greeks nor Romans could pronounce either the Hebrew or Persian names; and when engaged in the task of transcribing, they did it according to their own manner of pronunciation. It is notorious that all the Greek and Latin historians have committed innumerable blunders of this kind, in their accounts of foreign nations. St. Jerome loudly complains of the ridicule which those Christians, who were accustomed only to a Greek or Latin mode of pronunciation , endured continually from the Jews, because they could not pronounce the Hebrew proper names, particularly the gutturals.”
Clarke concludes by stating, “From these examples, the reader will see the indubitable evidence of corruption in many proper names, and the great probability of it in others.”
Translate or Transliterate
The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1989 vol. 18, p. 411.
Transliterate, to replace (letters or characters of one language) by those of another used to represent the same sounds
The Pocket Dictionary of Signing by R. Butterworth & Micky Fledin.
Fingerspelling is constantly used amoung the deaf to communicate words for which there are no signs, especially names of people and places.
New King James Version, 1982. Preface, pg. iv & v.
In the discipline of translating biblical and other ancient languages, a standard method of transliteration, that is, the English spelling of untranslated words, such as names of persons and places, has never been commonly adopted.
Daniel Valois, Translation Dept., Public Works and Government Services, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Mr. Valois told us proper names are not translated but are pronounced the same in all languages. He said if you went to China, McDonalds, the fast food chain, is pronounced as you hear it spoken here. The sign would have both English and Chinese lettering but both would indicate the word be pronounced “McDonalds.” There are some exceptions to this rule, but they only apply to place names and do not apply to personal names. For instance New Brunswick and New Orleans both have a French and English pronunciation, not because they override the rule, but because of their history that at separate times gave them different names, depending on which nation controlled them. [May 8,’98]
Spectrum Multilanguage Communications, Expert Translation and Foreign Language, New York, (212) 391-3940.
In translation from English into other languages, personal, corporate, and brand names frequently appear, whether on an executive’s business card or in descriptive material about a company, and proper rendering is of vital importance.
If the foreign language involved is one that is printed with the Latin alphabet, personal names do not change, even if the name has a translatable meaning or an “equivalent” in that foreign tongue.
In languages printed with other scripts, such as Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, or the Oriental tongues, the translator’s job is to render personal names phonetically in the foreign characters so that they sound as close as possible to the way they sound in English. Regardless of the script and the accepted conventions or lack of them, it is essential that the translator know how the individual’s name is pronounced in his own language; Unless it’s clearly apparent, please be sure to advise how a name is pronounced when you need it rendered into another script as part of a translation assignment.
Lost, step by step
The Messiah’s name was taken from Hebrew to Greek into Latin, and then Old English and finally English, losing the true Hebrew name and instead we end up with the Latinized-Greek hybrid Jesus instead of the holy, saving name Yahshua.
Emmanuel
Look at Matthew chap. 1 again, just two verses down, vs. 23, we see the Hebrew name “Emmanuel,” not altered in any way, pronounced in English exactly as it is in Hebrew. Why was this name transliterated, not translated?
Had his Father’s name
The Savior stated in John 5:43, “I am come in my Father’s Name,” He carried His Father’s Name. Just as today the family name is passed on from father to son, we would expect Yahshua to bear the name of the Heavenly Father. He went on to say, “If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” He reemphasized his name is not his own, he has been given the Father’s name.
See Strong’s
Yahshua indeed came in the name of His Father, for His very name means “the Salvation of YAHWEH.” His name contains the sacred, poetic, heavenly family name Yah: Pronounced YAHshua, shua meaning salvation. Look for yourself in Strong’s Greek Dictionary under Jesus #2424, it tells you it’s taken from the Hebrew #3091. Turn to Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary #3091 you’ll find the Saviour’s name is a combination of #3068 Yahweh, and #3467 yesha, to deliver, save, rescue. Joshua of the Old Testament also is #3091.
“Joshua” turns into “Jesus”
1989 Nelson KJV, Slimline Reference Edition, pg. 196.
Joshua. His original name is Hoshea, “Salvation” (Num. 13:8); but Moses evidently changes it to Yehoshua, “Yahweh Is Salvation” (Num. 13:16). This is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek name Iesous (Jesus).
One has but to look at Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 in the King James Bible where the hybrid “Jesus” erroneously appears. It appears scribes went through the King James Bible and everywhere changed the true name of Yahshua to Jesus. With overzealous intent, the name Joshua (Yahshua) the son of Nun had been mistakenly replaced with the hybrid “Jesus” as well! The NKJV and all other modern Bible versions have replaced the more proper Joshua.
None other name
Salvation is through Yahshua alone. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Ac. 4:12)
Name above every name
Phil. 2:9-10 – Wherefore Yahweh also has highly exalted him [Yahshua, vs. 5], and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Yahshua every knee should bow. Eph. 3:15 states that the entire “family in heaven and earth” is named after the precious name of the Father, Yahweh.
The following quotations are taken from the pages of The Oneness of God, by David K. Bernard
Pg, 44, “God’s name represents the following: 1) God’s presence, 2) the revelation of His character, 3) His power and 4) His authority.”
Pg. 45, “1. God demands fear (reverence, respect) for His name (Det. 28:58-59). He commands man not to take His name in vain (Ex. 20:7). 2. God warns His people not to forget His name (Ps. 44:20-21; Jer. 23:25-27). 3. God promises a blessing for those who know His name (Ps. 91:14-16).
Pg. 46, “Yahweh (Jehovah) is the redemptive name of God in the Old Testament (Ex. 6:3-8), and the unique name by which the one true God distinguished Himself in the Old Testament from all other gods (Is. 42:8).”
Pg. 46, “Yahweh means “He is.” When used by God, the verb form is in the first person, or “I Am.” In other words, Yahweh and “I Am” are different forms of the same verb.”
Pg. 47, “Jehovah appears by itself only four times in the KJV. In every other place, the King James translators used GOD or LORD to represent YHWH. In using LORD as a substitute for YHWH, they were simply following an ancient Jewish tradition.”
Pg.50 – 51, “Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name variously rendered as Jehoshua (Nu, 13:16), Jeshua (Ezra 2:2), or Joshua (Ex. 17:9). Both Acts 7:45 and He. 4:8 show that Jesus is the same name as Joshua. (See NIV.)
The identification of the name Jesus with salvation is particularly evident because the Hebrew for Jeshua is practically identical to the Hebrew for salvation, especially since ancient Hebrew did not use written vowels. In fact, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance transliterates Jeshua as Yeshuwa and the Hebrew word for salvation as Yeshuwah.”
The following quotations are taken from the pages of, In the Name of Jesus, by David K. Bernard
Pg 21, “To know God’s name is to know His true idenity, nature, and character.”
Pg 37’ “In actuality, the significance of the name rests in its meaning.”
Pg 36, “In New Testament times the Hebrew or Aramaic pronunciation of the name Jesus was Yeshua or Y’shua.”
Pg 36, “The name Jesus … literally means ‘Yahweh-Saviour’ or ‘Yahweh is salvation.’”
Pg 39, “Webster’s Dic. clearly shows that the English name Jesus came from the Latin Iesus, from the Greek Iesous, from the Hebrew Yeshua.”
In 1979 Daniel Segraves wrote the foreword, after proofreading it for UPC press, for Ancient Champions of Oneness by William Chalfant, giving it his full approval. On page 70 Chalfant writes, “God has one personal name in the N. T.: Jesus (which means, we find, that ‘YHWH — or Jehovah — is become our salvation — from Joshua or ‘Yahshua’).”
Names evolve
Karl (German) is Carlo (Latin) is Carlos (Spanish) and Charles (English). However when a child is named Charles he is not addressed, as Carlos in Spain, for his named is not Carlos, even though it is derived from the same root as Charles. The Prince of Wales is called Charles when he goes to Spain and the King of Spain’s name is pronounced Carlos when he visits Britain.
How do you feel about your own name?
Badrinath Krishna Rao is a journalist with Frontline, a national magazine in India. These quotes are from his letter in The Globe and Mail; page A22, June 8, 1998.
“When I was born my mother named me Badrinath, after the famous Hindu deity in the Himalayas. Perhaps she hoped I would be inspired by the god whose name I took. Or maybe she thought giving me a holy name would hasten her salvation, because each time she called me she would recite the name of the Lord and aquire a lot of merit. It never occurred to me that I would come to grief because of my name till I landed at the airport in Toronto in the early fall of 1990.
I am now resigned to the multiplicity of identities that people attributed to me.
Does it matter how one is referred to? It does, particularly for an immigrant not sure of his bearings in a new society. If you don’t bother to know my name, then you make me feel unwanted. And if you distort my name, the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard, you are disrupting the music in my life.
No matter how they mangle it, those who make the effort to utter my name invariably are broad-minded and amiable. Those who don’t care and prefer to talk to me only when I’m face to face with them often are callous and insular.”
Badrinath felt unwanted, offended and insulted by those who refused to make the effort to speak his name correctly. Do you think maybe your Saviour might have similar feeling about you?
Angels, when addressing our Saviour in the heavens, only use His true and proper name. Why would they use anything but? No one should be so entrenched that they reject the only true name of the Saviour. We shouldn’t cling to a name, as precious as it has been, that is never heard in the heavens above, nor ever shall be. Why, when you can speak the name used by the apostles, the name spoken by the angels and the Heavenly Father, and the name that will be His throughout eternity, would you refuse to accept it?