IS YESHUA OR JESUS OR ?

Have you ever wondered where the English name Jesus came from when His name in Hebrew is Yeshua? Brief summary of how Yeshua's name was changed based on transliteration. Yeshua is His given name in Hebrew and specifically means Yahweh Sets Free. The same word Yeshua is translated as salvation a few times in the OT (e.g. Ps. 91:16).

 

At the end of the 17th century, his name was changed based on transliteration to Jesus. Originally YEHOSHUA (Joshua) in Hebrew, short form YESHUA. In the Aramaic transliteration they dropped the “A” to make it "YESHU" (Peshita and Peshitto). The Koine Greek transliterated Aramaic “YESHU” to “IESOU”. There is an "S" at the end indicating it is a name therefore "IESOU“S”". That's why KJV has Elijah as Elias, Jeremiah as Jeremias (Matt. 16:14), Isaiah as Esaias (Matt. 3:3) to be consistent with the translation from the Koine Greek.

 

The English transliteration was "IESUS" up until 17th Century (e.g. KJV 1611), then the “I” was replaced with “J” and thus we have “Jesus” today. Other translators have reverted the names back to the Hebrew names (Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah), except for Jesus.

 

For more details go to http://yeshua.org/who/yeshua-or-jesus/