YESHUA HaMashiach JESUS Christ Messiah Yeshua YESHUA HaMashiach JESUS Christ Messiah Yeshua YESHUA HaMashiach JESUS

Christ Messiah Yeshua YESHUA HaMashiach JESUS Christ Messiah Yeshua YESHUA HaMashiach JESUS Christ Messiah Yeshua YESHUA HaMashiach JESUS Christ Messiah Yeshua YESHUA HaMashiach JESUS Christ Messiah Yeshua YESHUA HaMashiach

Why Yeshua?
Since the invention of the printing press and the subsequent first edition of the Gutenberg Bible in 1455, the Scriptures started their journey toward widespread availability to the masses. The first translation of the Scriptures into English was in 1535, preceding the 1611 King James Bible by nearly eighty years. After almost 500 years of the Scriptures being printed in English, its easy to understand how quickly we forget that our English Bibles are mere translations, and that the words we read every day during our study and devotionals are often several times removed from the original, God-breathed language of the Bible. For instance, you might be surprised to know that Jesus was a name our Master never heard nor spoke while He walked the earth. Likewise, Christ would have been foreign to His lips. Here is a brief explanation of how these two names evolved into English from their rich heritage in the original Hebrew. The name Jesus comes to us from the Latin, Iesu, which is from the Greek VIhsou/j, Iesous that we find in the original language of our New Testament Scriptures. Around 250 BCE, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) called the Septuagint was written by Greek-speaking Jewish scholars. In this version, we also find the name VIhsou/j, Iesous appearing almost 50 times as a translation of the Hebrew [;vuAhy>, Yhoshua or, as we would say in English, Joshua. Does this mean that Jesus name in Hebrew is actually Joshua? Not exactly. The Greek VIhsou/j, Iesous also appears in the Septuagint many times throughout the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Chronicles. It translates the name that appears in our English Bibles as Jeshua. This name is none other than [;WvyE, Yeshua, which literally appears in the texts of our Hebrew Scriptures.

[;vuAhy>, Yhoshua and [;WvyE, Yeshua because they share a similar linguistic root and meaning. While [;vuAhy>, Yhoshua means The Lord (hy", Yah) is salvation, the name [;WvyE, Yeshua, like the noun h[`Wvy>,
The Greek VIhsou/j, Iesous can be used to translate both yshuah found in passages such as Psalm 118:14, simply means salvation. That Yeshua means salvation makes sense, considering the words the angel spoke to Joseph in Matthew 1:21, She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins. The word Messiah can only be found in two places in an English version of the New Testament, where it translates Messi,aj, Messias in John 1:41 and 4:25. This Greek word is a transliteration (a phonetic representation) of the Aramaic or Hebrew word x;yvim', Mashiach, which comes from the word xv;m', mashach, meaning to anoint. Unlike VIhsou/j, Iesous, however, Messi,aj, Messias does not appear in the Septuagint. Instead, it is the word Cristo,j, Christos, which we translate into English as Christ, that in fact translates x;yvim', Mashiach and its various forms many times in the Septuagint. Cristo,j, Christos, then, is the Greek equivalent of x;yvim', Mashiach and appears in many different contexts in the Septuagint, though it carries the same basic meaning each time. One who is x;yvim', Mashiach has been anointed - literally smeared with oilto consecrate and call

him for special service, such as that of the high priest, or a king of Israel. According to Luke 4:17-21, Yeshua affirmed His calling and consecration as x;yvim', Mashiach in His reading and interpretation of Isaiah 61 during the synagogue service. The beginning of the first verse says, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me (xv;m', mashach) to bring good news As our great high priest and King,

[;WvyE, Yeshua has indeed been anointed - called and consecrated as x;yvim', Mashiach - to
save us from our sins!

Jesus

Iesu
VIhsou/j

[;WvyE
Yeshua

Christ

Christi
Cristo,j

x;yvim'
Messiah
Kevin Geoffrey is a Jewish Believer in the Messiah Yeshua. He is the Founder and President of Perfect Word Ministries, a Messianic Jewish equipping ministry. Perfect Word publishes the monthly Messianic discipleship publication The Messianic Life (http://www.MessianicLife.com). Kevin resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, Esther, and their sons, Isaac and Josiah.

Pronunciation Key: a = ah; e = eh; i = ee; o = oh; u = oo; ch = guttural sound in back of throat as in bach or loch, not ch as in much or charity