THE PHONOLOGY OF THE NAME YAHSHUA

Written by: Steve Marlowe Evangelist

It is believed by some, or by many, that the name YAHSHUA violates basic Hebrew. The so-called English name Jesus is a transliteration of the Latin name Iesus. Jesus, although adopted into the English language in the 17th century originated from Latin, a name derived from the Greek name for Christ “Iesous.” Iesous is a transliteration of the Aramaic name Yeshua. It should be noted that the name of Jesus violates Hebrew and that it replaced Iesus, as it is found in the 1611 English Version of the Bible. Yeshua, a common Aramaic name at the time of our Lord YAHSHUA was supposedly derived from Yehoshua, and the name “Joshua” is the closest English equivalent to the name Yehoshua. They say that both Yehoshua and Yeshua equally mean ‘YAH saves.’ The question is, does anyone see or hear YAH in any of these names, Jesus, Iesus, Iesous, or Yeshua? They say, that it is a commonly accepted fact within academia that Jesus’ native Hebrew/Aramaic name was Yeshua, however, was this the actual name revealed from Heaven? Phonology is the branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds (including phonetics), within a language and or between different languages.

Although Hebrew scholar Michael Brown acknowledges the meaning of the Savior’s name (YAH Saves), he emphatically denies that “YAHSHUA” was the name of Christ before the name of Jesus, for he states, “The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is Yeshu’a, which is short for Yehoshua.”Well O. K., why all the fuss? The fuss is about the denial of God’s revelation of the true name of salvation, as the apostle Peter testified to in Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” How do we know that the Savior’s name is YAHSHUA and not Jesus? And based on the statement of scholar Michael Brown and the testimony of the apostle Peter, the name Jesus is wrong! Based on his academic reasoning, it should be Yeshua, “for there is no other name…,” right? One thing we know for sure, God never revealed the name of Jesus, and that is a fact that should cause pause for all concerned. The angel speaking to Joseph in Matthew 1:21 never revealed the name Jesus, or Iesus, or Iesous despite being found in Holy Scripture by the auspices of the higher arch's of the church. And again, how is it that every one would agree that Savior’s name means “YAH saves,” and yet not recognize the very revealed name of YAHSHUA?

It was Moses who first asked for God’s name, for we read, “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, (HAYAH ASHAR HAYAH) ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ’Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM (YAH) has sent me to you.’ Moreover God said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘YAHAWAH the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This (YAH) is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations’” (Exodus 3:13-15). The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) revealed His name to Moses as YAHAWAH, which means in ancient Hebrew: “I AM Ever-present.” Behold the name which is above every name the very name: YAH! The Lord YAH said to Moses, “And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am YaHaWaH. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as EL SHADDAI, but by My name YAHAWAH I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:2-3). The ancient Hebrew word “hawah,” is the modern Hebrew word, “havah.” In Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words, havah means “to be”, as in ever-present (Strong’s no. 1934, p. 425, 2001).

Millions of Jews and Christians say, “Halleluyah!” Which means “Praise YAH!” Surprisingly many do not know what they are actually saying. The first Hebrew letter in YAH is the consonant letter Yod, which is the equivalent to the English letter Y, so why do people traditionally put the English letter J instead of the appropriate English letter Y? The Christian Savior, indeed the Savior of the whole world, has the name YAH, which is the name which is above every name. This was testified to by the apostle Paul, for he said, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of YAHSHUA every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA the Messiah is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Shua is the Hebrew meaning for salvation.

The name of the Savior is a heavenly revealed name, and No matter what language you speak, everyone, every language, conforms to the revealed name according to the pronunciation of the Hebrew language, as God gave it! Is honoring the revealed name of God not one of the Ten Commandments? As it says: “You shall not take the name of the LORD (YAHAWAH) your God in vain, for the LORD (YAHAWAH) will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain,” (Exodus 20:7). And what greater vanity then to change the very revealed name of our Lord and Savior, who by an angel of LORD gave the name YAHSHUA? The apostle Paul spoke Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, not to mention Aramaic, and the Lord could have chosen to reveal to Paul in any of those languages, but He chose Hebrew, which is the original language used to reveal the one name given under heaven by which we must be saved! The Lord could have used the name Jesus, or Iesus, or Iesous, or even Yeshua, however, based on the meaning of His name (YAH saves), He used the name YAHSHUA (YAH saves). The apostle Paul gives this testimony: “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am YAHSHUA, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 4:12-15). Hebrew names have meaning, and there is no meaning pertaining to salvation in the names Jesus, Iesus, Iesous, and as for the name Yeshua, it does not have YAH, the name which is above every name.

YAH who is ever-present and YAH who offers salvation is the same being. For indeed YAHSHUA is YAHAWAH, the very God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), as the Father has declared Him to be, “But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions. And: ‘You, Lord (YHWH), in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands’” (Hebrews 1:8-10). YAHSHUA, (YAH) is our God because His God and Father declared Him to be our only God. If that is not proof enough, He told the Jews that He was YAH, for we read, “‘Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ YAHSHUA said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but YAHSHUA hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:55-59). According to the language of the Jews, YAHSHUA just told them that He is YAH, the I AM! This is why they sought to stone Him.

The essential name of the Savior is YAH, and the Son of God is the God of the Old Testament (or rather the Hebrew Scriptures), and the God of the New Testament, because His God and Father has declared Him to be, as the Father called Him by the very name YAHAWAH (LORD=YHWH) according to Hebrews 1:10. Behold the name (YAH) the name which is the name above every name:

“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation’” (Isaiah 12:2 NKJV).

“Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name Yah,
And rejoice before Him” (Psalm 68:4 NKJV).

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him (YAHSHUA) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:9-18). The Father identified the Son as YAHAWAH, who is our God, who is the “I AM EVER-PRESENT” one in the Hebrew Scriptures, the very YAH, and in the New Testament Scriptures, He is YAHSHUA, for YAH SAVES!

The Father (Abba is His name, as revealed to us by YAHSHUA) gave all things to His Son, YAHSHUA, for YAHSHUA testified of this, when He said, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27). The Father gave all things to the Son, YAHSHUA, the Christ, for the purpose of reconciling the world back to Him, for we read, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For ‘He has put all things under His feet.’ But when He says ‘all things are put under Him,’ it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God (Abba) may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28). YAHSHUA said, “Shalom (peace) I leave with you, My shalom I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I” (John 14:27-28).

Because the God and Father of our Lord YAHSHUA declared Him to be our only God, He, YAHSHUA, has the right to claim all things, and He does:

There Is No Other Legitimate God on earth:

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.
And who can proclaim as I do?
Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me,
Since I appointed the ancient people.
And the things that are coming and shall come,
Let them show these to them.
Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one’” (Isaiah 44:6-8).

The apostle Paul made it very clear who the Rock truly is:

“Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

YAHSHUA, the Son of God, said in Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, ‘says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” “I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of YAHSHUA the Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of YAHSHUA the Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’ Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band” (Revelation 1:9-13). In comparison this is what YAHSHUA said in Isaiah 44:6-8, “I am the First and the Last...”

How important is the revealed name of our salvation, the very name of YAHSHUA?

And the Lord said:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned;

but he who does not believe is condemned already,

because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18).

Renewed Efforts to Stone YAHSHUA, in John 10:30-36, And YAHSHUA said:

“‘I and My Father are one.’ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

YAHSHUA answered them, ‘Many good works I have shown you from My Father.

For which of those works do you stone Me?’

The Jews answered Him, saying, ‘For a good work we do not stone You,

but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.’

YAHSHUA answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are elohim (gods)” ’?

If He called them elohim (gods), to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”

In Psalm 82:6, God declared, “I said, ‘You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High.’”

Scholar Michael Brown denies the name YAHSHUA, and consequently denies the name of Jesus, as he seeks to establish the name Yeshua as the original name of the Savior, however, the name Yeshua does not have the name which is above every name, YAH! And yet it is not the intent of Dr. Brown to deny the name of Jesus, but according to Act 4:12, he has done it. The apostle Peter made it very clear in Acts 4:12, “...there is no other name...” Scholar Michael Brown states, “The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is Yeshu’a, which is short for Yehoshu’a (Joshua), just as Mike is short for Michael… Why then do some people refer to Jesus as YAHSHUA? There is absolutely no support for this pronunciation—none at all-- and I say this as someone holding a Ph.D. in Semitic languages. My educational guess is that some zealous but linguistically ignorant people thought that Yahweh’s name must have been a more overt part of our Savior’s name, hence YAHshua rather than Yeshus—but again, there is no support of any kind for this theory… the original form of the name Jesus is Yeshua, and there is no such name as YAHSHUA [or, Yahushua or the like] ("What Is The Original Hebrew Name For Jesus? And Is It True That The Name Jesus Is Really A Pagan Corruption Of The Name Zeus?". ASK Dr. Brown. 3 January 2013).

Dr. Brown implores us, “So, for the record, once again, THERE IS NO SUCH NAME AS YAHSHUA. It didn't exist in biblical times and it has not existed as a genuine Hebrew name in history — until people who really didn't understand Hebrew made it up, thinking that it somehow restored the "Yah" element (from "Yahweh") into the Savior's name... there's no such either as Yahushua — Joshua was pronounced ye-ho-shu-ah ( https://askdrbrown.org/library/can-we-please-stop-yahshua-nonsense).

Why does Dr. Michael Brown deny the name of YAHSHUA? Does he accept the names Jesus and Jehovah? Why has the revealed name of the Savior become so obscured as to not be well known among the Jews, who only have the name of Yeshua in all of Judea, Samaria, and the surrounding area? Here is the reason that breaks Dr. Brown’s supposition: The Jews sought to hide the name of God from the Gentiles since the days of Babylon, and they would persecute Jews, who used the name of YAH. When the leaders heard the name of YAHSHUA, they immediately recognized the very name of YAH. Keep in mind that the name of Jesus did not exist until the 17th century. This is attested to by historian/scholar Ernest Renan, who informs us that never in Christ’s lifetime was He known as “Jesus” (Ernest Renan, The Life of Jesus, p. 90).

The following is the reason the name YAHSHUA was scarce in the first century of the apostolic church, and the more common Aramaic name of Yeshua replaced it, which was used to transliterate Yeshua to Iesous as the Greek church changed the name to Iesous. The apostles stayed true to the one name given under heaven by which we must be saved, the very name of YAHSHUA!

Peter and John Arrested

“Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in YAHSHUA the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”

Addressing the Sanhedrin

“And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, ‘By what power or by what name have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of YAHSHUA the Messiah of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The Name of YAHSHUA Forbidden

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with YAHSHUA. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, ‘What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.’ So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of YAHSHUA. But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.’ So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed” (Acts 4:1-22).

The apostle Peter’s testimony was to the revealed name of YAHSHUA, as there is no other name, not to Jesus, Iesus, or Iesous, let alone Joshua. There was an overt effort to suppress the name of YAHSHUA in the days of Christ, and it would be a compromise indeed on the part of the apostles to use the name Yeshua. It is indeed evident that in these last days the restoration of the one name given under heaven by which we must be saved should be suppressed.

Another name propagated as God’s revealed name is Jehovah, an erroneous name concocted by man in ignorance.

JEHOVAH

IS THIS THE Name of God?

Jehovah...It is widely used. It is considered by many to be hallowed, and it is also endeared by many a beautiful hymn, however, this name was never revealed by God. The name of “Jehovah” is a concoction of man. Therefore, it is a “mongrel,” a “hybrid;” and it is “fantastic” and “monstrous.” The facts have only to be known to justify this verdict. What are the facts? The Jews’ have a strong penchant for hiding the name of God from the Gentiles. The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages were known to raid synagogues, take gold and the Hebrew Scriptures, and persecute Jews. The pronunciation Jehovah was widely unknown until 1520, when introduced by Peter Galatinus, Confessor to Pope Leo X, who noted in the stolen Hebrew Scriptures the Hebrew vowels placed onto the four consonants of God’s name, YHWH. Peter Galatinus (1450-1540) did not know of the Jewish practice, and created the name Jehovah which is merely a combination of the Tetragrammaton (the four consonants: YHWH) and the vowels from another Hebrew word for God (Eloah) arbitrarily placed onto the Tetragrammaton to remind the Jewish reader not to attempt to say the name of God, but to say, “Adonay,” instead. It should be noted that words in the Hebrew Scriptures contain consonants only, no vowels, so when the Jewish reader would come upon YHWH, God’s name, he would inadvertently attempt to pronounce the name. Therefore vowels were added to remind the reader to say Adonay instead of the name. Noted Bible scholar J. B. Rotherham, stated, To give… YHWH (Latin: IHVH {Iehovah} later JHVH {Jehovah} due to the later addition of the letter J in the seventeenth century) the vowels of the word (Eloah) to remind the Jewish reader to say, “Adonay,” and later to pronounce it “Jehovah,’ is about as hybrid a combination as it would be to spell the name of Germany with the vowels of Portugal-viz., Gormuna.” Jehovah in its present form has only existed since the seventeenth century. Fact: God’s essential name is YAH, and Bible scholars acknowledge YAHWEH (for YAH, see Strong’s #3050), as in “Praise YAH,” in Hebrew: “Halleluyah.” YAH is the name above every name (Philippians 2:9). YAH is from the root word of hayah (I AM). The Savior identified Himself as the I AM (John 8:58). Je-hovah, “hovah” in Hebrew means “RUIN and MISCHIEF,” and “Calamity” (see Strong’s #1943). “Jehovah” is a monstrous name that means “Ruin and Mischief.” Besides the vowels of Eloah, the Jews also at times used the vowels of Elohim, “Yehovih” (see Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words, #3069), which was done to remind the Jewish reader in the synagogues to say, “Adonay” instead of speaking the name of God. The Jewish Encyclopedia, states, “This name is commonly represented in modern translations by the form Jehovah, which, however, is a philological impossibility” (p. 160). The Jehovah’s Witnesses admit the name Jehovah is inferior (in the Book: Let Your Name be Sanctified (p. 16). The name Jehovah is not the name of God! The LORD said, “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9). To use a false name not revealed by God as God’s name is tantamount to idolatry.

Dr. Brown’s point seems to be that YAHSHUA is unknown. Clearly the Jews sought to hide the name YAH….

IN HIS TRUTH,

Halleluyah, Praise YAH,

Praise YAHSHUA!

The Ministry of YAHSHUA