Divine Name

יהושע

Yahshua

The name that carries the Father’s memorial Yah and the Hebrew shua, salvation. The WOTA Bible prints it for the Hebrew spellings and wherever the base text had Jesus.

aka: Jesus

Forms

יהושע Yehoshua The full spelling, H3091. Jerome writes Iosue. The WOTA Bible says Yahshua.
ישוע Yeshua The later short spelling, H3442, and the Aramaic H3443. A fair pronunciation of that form. The WOTA Bible still says Yahshua.

Yahshua is the form of the name I use. I print it where the Hebrew has the full spelling יהושע, and also where a later book writes the short spelling ישוע. I print it in the New Testament as well, where the Greek is Ἰησοῦς and common English has Jesus.

The full spelling carries the Father’s memorial Yah and the root ישע, to save. Jerome, working from the Hebrew, wrote Iosue. Yahshua follows that shape. English later split that one name into Joshua for the Old Testament and Jesus for the New. The Greek path is Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), then Latin Iesus, then English Jesus. The WOTA Bible does not take that fork. It keeps one English word, Yahshua, in both Testaments. For how the English name Jesus developed from the Greek and Latin, see Jesus.

After the exile the name is often written ישוע, without the ה. Ezra and Nehemiah use that short spelling for the high priest, and Nehemiah 8:17 uses it for the son of Nun. Haggai and Zechariah still write יהושע for that same priest. The short spelling is real Second Temple Hebrew. It is already in the consonants, and the Qumran testimony 4Q175 uses it for the son of Nun. It is a contraction of the full name. Yeshua is a fair way to say that later form, especially after the Masoretes pointed it יֵשׁוּעַ. Those vowels are medieval. The noun from the same root, יֶשַׁע, also means salvation. I keep Yahshua because the name I am following is the older form, the one Jerome wrote as Iosue.

Jerome’s Latin usually keeps one spelling for both Hebrew forms. Ezra 3:2 and Nehemiah 8:17 have the short Hebrew spelling, and the Vulgate still says Iosue. At 1 Chronicles 24:11, the ninth priestly division, some Vulgate copies say Hiesu and the Clementine says Jesua. That verse is the short spelling. In the WOTA Bible it is still Yahshua, so the English name stays one word, and that word links here.

The longer study is Why do I say Yahshua?.

View Line of Christ

Matthew and Luke both frame a genealogy around Joseph, yet the names differ after David (Solomon in Matthew, Nathan in Luke). Scripture does not explain the difference. Common theories: (1) Matthew gives the legal/royal line and Luke another kinship line (blood, adoption, or levirate), both tied to Joseph; (2) one list is Joseph’s and Luke’s is Mary’s, with Joseph named because Yahshua was “as was supposed” his son (Luke 3:23)—a reading Luke never states outright; (3) both are Joseph’s by different reckonings (for example legal father and biological father). The chains below follow each Gospel as written.

Line of Christ (Matthew)

From Adam to Yahshua. Genesis carries the line to Abraham; Matthew’s genealogy carries it from Abraham to Yahshua through David and Solomon, ending at Joseph the husband of Mary.

Line of Christ (Luke)

Luke 3:23–38 as written: from Yahshua, “the son (as was supposed) of Joseph,” back through Heli and Nathan son of David to Adam. The names after David differ from Matthew.

Strong’s

Strong’s dictionaries compiled by Open Scriptures, used under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

יְהוֹשׁוּעַ H3091

Yᵉhôwshûwaʻ · yeh-ho-shoo'-ah

Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua), the Jewish leader

or יְהוֹשֻׁעַ; from H3068 (יְהֹוָה) and H3467 (יָשַׁע); Jehovah-saved;

KJV glosses: Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua. Compare H1954 (הוֹשֵׁעַ), H3442 (יֵשׁוּעַ).

יֵשׁוּעַ H3442

Yêshûwaʻ · yay-shoo'-ah

Jeshua, the name of ten Israelites, also of a place in Palestine

for H3091 (יְהוֹשׁוּעַ); he will save;

KJV glosses: Jeshua.

יֵשׁוּעַ H3443

Yêshûwaʻ · yay-shoo'-ah

{Jeshua, the name of ten Israelites, also of a place in Palestine}

(Aramaic) corresponding to H3442 (יֵשׁוּעַ)

KJV glosses: Jeshua.

Brown-Driver-Briggs

Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906). Public-domain digital text.

יְהוֺשׁוּעַ H3091 · H3442

Biblical Hebrew

יְהוֺשׁוּעַ, יְהוֺשֻׁעַ and (later) יֵשׁוּעַ, proper name, masculine (& location, see 9 below) (׳י is salvation, or ׳י is opulence, compare אֱלִישָׁע, אֱלִישׁוּעַ, אֲבִישׁוּעַ & NesSK 1892, 573 f.; in any case it came to be associated with ישׁע, compare Matt 1:21 on יֵשׁוּעַ see especially FräVOJ iv. 1890, 332 f. MüllSK 1892, 177 f. who cite analogue for change of וֹ to later ֵ֯, & Nesl.c.) — 1. Moses' successor, son of Nun, (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς) יְהוֺשׁוּעַ Deut 3:21; Judg 2:7 = יְהוֺשֻׁעַ Exod 17:9; Exod 17:10; Exod 17:13; Exod 17:14; Exod 24:13; Exod 32:17; Exod 33:11; Num 11:28; Num 13:16; Num 14:6; Num 14:30; Num 14:38; Num 26:65; Num 27:18; Num 27:22; Num 32:12; Num 32:28; Num 34:17; Deut 1:38; Deut 3:28; Deut 31:3; Deut 31:7; Deut 31:14 (twice in verse); Deut 31:23; Deut 34:9; Josh 1:1 + 167 t. Joshua; Judg 1:1; Judg 2:6; Judg 2:7; Judg 2:8; Judg 2:21; Judg 2:23; 1Kgs 16:34; 1Chr 7:27 = יֵשׁוּעַ Neh 8:17 (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς); according to P, name changed by Moses from הוֺשֵׁעַ q. v. Num 13:8; Num 13:16 (ᵐ5 Αὑση) Deut 32:44 (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς).

2. יְהוֺשֻׁעַ a Bethshemite 1Sam 6:14; 1Sam 6:18 (ᵐ5 'Wshe, A Ἰησοῦς, ᵐ5L Ἰωσηε).

3. high priest after the restoration, son of Jehozadak יְהוֺשֻׁעַ (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς) Hag 1:1; Hag 1:12; Hag 1:14; Hag 2:2; Hag 2:4; Zech 3:1; Zech 3:3; Zech 3:6; Zech 3:8; Zech 3:9; Zech 6:11 = יְשׁוּעַ (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς) Ezra 2:2; Ezra 3:2; Ezra 3:8; Ezra 4:3; Ezra 5:2; Ezra 10:18; Neh 7:7; Neh 12:1; Neh 12:7; Neh 12:10; Neh 12:26.

4. יְהוֺשֻׁעַ governor of Jerusalem under Josiah 2Kgs 23:8 (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς, ᵐ5L Ἰωσηε).

5. יֵשׁוּעַ (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς). head of one of the classes of priests 1Chr 24:11, possibly also Ezra 2:36 = Neh 7:39.

6. יֵשׁוּעַ (ᵐ5 Ἰησοῦς etc.), a Levitical family-name of frequent occurrence:

a. Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9 = Neh 7:43; Neh 8:7; Neh 9:4; Neh 9:5; Neh 10:10; Neh 12:8.

b. 2Chr 31:15; Ezra 8:33; Neh 12:24.

7. יֵשׁוּעַ (ᵐ5 id.), father of a builder at the wall Neh 3:19, perhaps =

8. a Judaite family-name (ᵐ5 id.), Ezra 2:6 = Neh 7:11 (compare SmListen 12).

9. proper name, of a location in south of Judah Neh 11:26 בְּיֵשׁוּעַ (ᵐ5 ἐν Ἰησού, ᵐ5L ἐν Σουα).

יְהוֺשֻׁעַ H3091 · H3442

Biblical Hebrew

יְהוֺשֻׁעַ, יֵשׁוּעַ proper name.

יֵשׁוּעַ H3442 · H3443

Biblical Aramaic

יֵשׁוּעַ proper name, masculine (Biblical Hebrew id., 3); — Ezra 5:2.