This article was updated on January 1, 2011, to include new information about the Messiah's name.
Yeshua is the original Aramaic proper name for Jesus the Nazarene, who lived from about 6 B.C.E. to 27 C.E. (A.D.) The word "Jesus" is actually a mis-transliteration of a Greek mis-transliteration. The Emperor Constantine even mistook Jesus for Apollo, the son of the Greek god Zeus. In Hebrew Yeshua means Salvation while the name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.
This section contains the new information about the Messiah's name.
The name YH-Zeus comes from merging the Jewish god YHVH and the Greco-Roman god Zeus.
The popular first century Egyptian god, Serapis, was the result of merging the gods Osiris and Apis.
Serapis was an invented god, the brainchild of Ptolemy Soter I as a means of peacefully merging two warring religious factions. It was immensely successful.
Merging the god of the Jews, YHVH, with the Greco-Roman god, Zeus, may well have been an attempt to duplicate Ptolemy Soter's success.
A dying and resurrected Jewish Messiah would have satisfied the Jews. the Greeks, and the Romans.
Merging YH-Zeus with the Egyptian god Serapis would encompass the rest of the Roman Empire.
"One Nation under One God"
This second century bust housed at the London Museum is Serapis, not Jesus.
It would most likely have been produced during the reign of Hadrian, 117 to 138 ACE, perhaps about the time he wrote the following:
"From Hadrian Augustus to Servianus the consul, greeting. The land of Egypt, the praises of which you have been recounting to me, my dear Servianus, I have found to be wholly light-minded, unstable, and blown about by every breath of rumor. There, those who worship Serapis are, in fact, Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are, in fact, devotees of Serapis. There is no chief of the Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no Christian presbyter, who is not an astrologer, a soothsayer, or an anointer. Even the Patriarch himself, when he comes to Egypt, is forced by some to worship Serapis, by others to worship Christ. They are a folk most seditious, most deceitful, most given to injury; but their city is prosperous, rich, and fruitful, and in it no one is idle."
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It is most proper to call Him Yeshua; only in Hebrew does this name have any meaning. In Hebrew Yeshua means both "Salvation," and the concatenated form of Yahoshua, is "Lord who is Salvation." The name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.
There are many Yeshuas that we read about in Biblical text and many are confused with the Yeshua who would later become the "Christ". The name Yeshua appears 29 times in the Tanach. Yehoshua (Joshua) of Nun is called Yeshua in Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 8:17. Yeshua is the name of the Cohain HaGadol (the high priest) in the time of Zerubavel in Ezra 3:2. It is the name of a Levite under King Hizkiyah (Hezekiah) in 2 Chronicles 31:15. There is even a city called Yeshua in the negev of Yehudah in Nechemyah11:26. Yeshua is also a shortened version of the word Yehoshua much like Bill is for William.
There are 7 other Yeshuas (Jesuses) in the Brit Chadashah. There is Elymas bar Yeshua in Acts 13:6. There is an ancestor of Yeshua HaMashiach: the son of Eliezar, the father of Er in Luke 3:29. In Rav Shaul's letter to the Colossians in chapter 4, verse 11, there is a Justus called Yeshua a fellow worker of Shaul. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian mentions 20 different Yeshuas (Jesuses), 10 of which are contemporary with Yeshua HaMashiach. All together, at least 50 Yeshuas from his time plus about 9 in the Tanach have been revealed from Biblical text and other literary sources.
Mis-Translating the Mis-Translation |
Yeshua is a Hebrew name which has been transliterated into Greek as Iesous (IhsouV: pronounced ee-ay-SUS or ee-ah-ZOOS). The English "Jesus" comes from the Latin transliteration of the Greek name into the Latin Iesus. Now Greek has no "y" sound, but the Latin "i" is both an "i" and a "j" (i.e., it can have a consonantal force in front of other vowels), the latter of which is properly pronounced like the English "y" (which explains the German Jesu, "YAY-su")That is why we spell Jesus as we do, taking it straight from Latin, but we pronounce the name with a soft "j" sound because that is what we do in English with the consonantal "j".
The first letter in the name Yeshua ("Jesus") is the yod. Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with yod are mispronounced by English speakers because the yod in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today. All proper names in the Old Testament were transliterated into English according to their Hebrew pronunciation via the Latin, but when English pronunciation shifted to what we know today, these transliterations were not altered. Thus, such Hebrew place names as ye-ru-sha-LA-yim, ye-ri-HO, and yar-DEN have become known to us as Jerusalem, Jericho, and Jordan; and Hebrew personal names such as yo-NA, yi-SHAI, and ye-SHU-a have become known to us as Jonah, Jesse, and Jesus. To further complicate matters, there was no letter "J" in the old English alphabet and the letter "I" was often used in its place. Often in early texts of the time, Jesus or Jerusalem would be spelled Iesus or Ierusalem.
The second sound in Yeshua's name is called tse-RE, and is pronounced almost like the letter "e" in the word "net". Just as the "Y" sound of the first letter is mispronounced in today's English, so too the first vowel sound in "Jesus". Before the Hebrew name "Yeshua" was transliterated into English, it was first transliterated into Greek. There was no difficulty in transliterating the tse-RE sound since the ancient Greek language had an equivalent letter which represented this sound. And there was no real difficulty in transcribing this same first vowel into English. The translators of the earliest versions of the English Bible transliterated the tse-RE in Yeshua with an "e". Unfortunately, later English speakers guessed wrongly that this "e" should be pronounced as in "me," and thus the first syllable of the English version of Yeshua came to be pronounced "Jee" instead of "Yeh". It is this pronunciation which produced such euphemistic profanities as "Gee" and "Geez".
Since Yeshua is spelled "Jeshua" and not "Jesus" in most English versions of the Old Testament (for example in Ezra 2:2 and 2 Chronicles 31:15), one easily gets the impression that the name is never mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet 'Yeshua' appears there twenty-nine times, and is the name of at least five different persons and one village in the southern part of Yehudah ("Judah").
In contrast to the early biblical period, there were relatively few different names in use among the Jewish population of the Land of Israel at the time of the Second Temple. The name Yeshua was one of the most common male names in that period, tied with Eleazer for fifth place behind Simon, Joseph, Judah, and John. Nearly one out of ten persons known from the period was named Yeshua.
The first sound of the second syllable of Yeshua is the "sh" sound. It is represented by the Hebrew letter shin. However Greek, like many other languages, has no "sh" sound. Instead, the closest approximation, the Greek sigma, was used when transcribing "Yeshua" as "Iesus". Translators of English versions of the New Testament transliterated the Greek transcription of a Hebrew name, instead of returning to the original Hebrew. This was doubly unfortunate, first because the "sh" sound exists in English, and second because in English the "s" sound can shift to the "z" sound, which is what happened in the case of the pronunciation of "Jesus".
The fourth sound one hears in the name Yeshua is the "u" sound, as in the word "true". Like the first three sounds, this also has come to be mispronounced but in this case it is not the fault of the translators. They transcribed this sound accurately, but English is not a phonetic language and "u" can be pronounced in more than one way. At some point the "u" in "Jesus" came to be pronounced as in "cut," and so we say "Jee-zuhs."
The "a" sound, as in the word "father," is the fifth sound in Jesus' name. It is followed by a guttural produced by contracting the lower throat muscles and retracting the tongue root- an unfamiliar task for English speakers. In an exception to the rule, the vowel sound "a" associated with the last letter "ayin" (the guttural) is pronounced before it, not after. While there is no equivalent in English or any other Indo-European language, it is somewhat similar to the last sound in the name of the composer, "Bach." In this position it is almost inaudible to the western ear. Some Israelis pronounce this last sound and some don't, depending on what part of the dispersion their families returned from. The Hebrew Language Academy, guardian of the purity of the language, has ruled that it should be sounded, and Israeli radio and television announcers are required to pronounce it correctly. There was no letter to represent them, and so these fifth and sixth sounds were dropped from the Greek transcription of "Yeshua," -the transcription from which the English "Jesus" is derived.
So where did the final "s" of "Jesus" come from? Masculine names in Greek ordinarily end with a consonant, usually with an "s" sound, and less frequently with an "n" or "r" sound. In the case of "Iesus," the Greeks added a sigma, the "s" sound, to close the word. The same is true for the names Nicodemus, Judas, Lazarus, and others.
English speakers make one final change from the original pronunciation of Jesus' name. English places the accent on "Je," rather than on "sus." For this reason, the "u" has been shortened in its English pronunciation to "uh."
Today's tradition of pronouncing His completely Hellenized name as "Jesus" has indeed obscured His true name, "Yeshua," and has shifted its perceived meaning much like most of His original teachings.
As with all things Essene however, there is always the exoteric and the esoteric philosophies and functions. That is, those ideas and teachings suitable to be imparted to the public, and those designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone.
Even His name, it would seem, became a part of this understanding. The name Jesus or Jesus Christ is often used in everything from idle conversation, to bumper stickers and jewelry, to enforcing false teachings, to justifying wars and political agendas, and is even used as a profanity. The name Yeshua however, has remained pure and holy, known and used only by those who would uphold His name and teachings in the highest regard and thus reserving His holy name for use only in spiritual matters and the most humbled and sincere of prayer and obeisances.
Special Note: In an effort to keep the integrity of the manuscripts within The Nazarene Way site and its archives intact, and for the purposes of study, correspondence and for future theological reference, the name Jesus does appear in many of our texts, files and manuscripts. To the devout student, the proper name Yeshua is always implied.
It is our intention to reproduce all texts as they were originally written or, as they were originally translated. We feel it is important that no text is ever arbitrarily or intentionally changed, altered, added to, replaced or corrected, to include spelling, punctuation or grammatical error. The word Jesus is also used on our main menu and index pages for general public recognition and for common browser and search engine purposes.
Names of Jesus Christ
The Savior and Redeemer of the World
Names of Jesus, the Christus
Photo by Rachel Woods This list contains over 200 of the many names of
Jesus. Some are titles of the Savior and concepts of who Christ is. Many of the names of Jesus come from the Bible,
LDS Scriptures, and Latter-day
revelation.
Names of Jesus Christ- Advocate
- Almighty
- Almighty God
- Alpha and Omega
- Amen, The
- Ancient of Days
- Anointed
- Anointed One
- Author
- Author of Eternal Salvation
- Beginning
- Beginning and the Ending
- Begotten
- Beloved
- Beloved Son
- Beloved Son of God
- Blessed of God
- Bread of Life
- Bridegroom
- Bright and Morning Star
- Captain of Man's Salvation
- Captain of Our Salvation
- Carpenter
- Carpenter's Son
- Chief Cornerstone
- Chosen
- Chosen of God
- Christ
- Christ Child
- Christ of God
- Christ the Lamb
- Comforter
- Consolation of Israel
- Cornerstone
- Counsellor
- Creator
- Creator of All Things
- Deliverer
- Divine Son
- Door of the Sheep
- Emmanuel
- End of the Law
- Endless
- Eternal
- Eternal Father
- Eternal God
- Eternal Head
- Eternal Judge
- Eternal Judge of Quick and Dead
- Everlasting Father
- Example
- Exemplar
- Faithful and True
- Father
- Father of Heaven and Earth
- Finisher
- Finisher of faith
- First and the Last
- Firstborn
- Firstfruits
- Forerunner
- God
- God of Abraham
- God of Isaac
- God of Israel
- God of Jacob
- God of Thy Father
- God of Whole Earth
- God's Anointed
- God's Holy Child Jesus
- Good Shepherd
- Governor
- Great I AM
- Great God
- Great Shepherd
- Head of Every Man
- Head of the Body
- Head of the Church
- Healer
- Heir of All Things
- Holy
- Holy Child
- Holy Messiah
- Holy One
- Holy One of Israel
- Holy One of Jacob
- I AM
- Image of God
- Immanuel
- Jehovah
- Jesus
- Jesus Christ
- Jesus of Galilee
- Jesus of Nazareth
- Joseph's Son
- Judge
- Judge of Quick and Dead
- Just One
- Just, The
- King
- King of Israel
- King of Kings
- King of Zion/Sion
- King of the Jews
- Lamb
- Lamb of God
- Life, the
- Light of the World
- Light, the
- Lion of the Tribe of Juda
- Living Bread
- Living Stone
- Living Water
- Lord
- Lord from Heaven
- Lord God
- Lord God Almighty
- Lord God of Hosts
- Lord Jehovah
- Lord Jesus
- Lord of All
- Lord of Dead
- Lord of Glory
- Lord of Hosts
- Lord of Living
- Lord of Lords
- Lord of the Sabbath
- Lord Omnipotent
- Lord our Righteousness
- Lord's Christ
- Maker
- Man of Counsel
- Man of Holiness
- Master
- Mediator
- Meek and Lowly
- Messenger of the Covenant
- Messiah
- Messias
- Mighty God
- Mighty One
- Mighty One of Israel
- Mighty One of Jacob
- Minister
- Most High God
- Nazarene
- Offspring of David
- One Body
- Only Begotten
- Only Begotten of the Father
- Only Begotten Son
- Our Passover
- Physician
- Power of God
- Prince
- Prince of Life
- Prince of Peace
- Prophet
- Prophet of Nazareth
- Propitiation for Sins of Whole World
- Rabbi
- Redeemer
- Redeemer of Israel
- Redeemer of the World
- Resurrection and the Life
- Revealer
- Righteous Judge
- Righteous Man
- Rock, the
- Rock of Heaven
- Root of Jesse
- Sacrifice, the
- Savior
- Savior of Israel
- Savior of the World
- Second Comforter
- Seed of Abraham
- Seed of David
- Seed of the Woman
- Servant of Jehovah
- Servant of the Lord
- Shepherd
- Son
- Son of Abraham
- Son of David
- Son of God
- Son of Man
- Son of Mary
- Son of Righteousness
- Son of the Blessed
- Son of the Eternal Father
- Son of the Everlasting God
- Son of the Highest
- Son of the Living God
- Son of the Most High God
- Spiritual Rock
- Stem of Jesse
- Teacher Come from God
- True Vine
- Truth, the
- Unchangeable One
- Way, the
- Well Beloved
- Wisdom of God
- Wonderful
- Word of Life
- Word, the
- Worthy
If you know of a name of Jesus that is not listed here, feel free to submit it or learn more about
Jesus Christ.
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