Yehoshua

Yehoshua, Yeshua in the variants of the Masoretic text

Yehoshua is a transliteration of the Hebrew personal name יהושועwhich appears several times in the Bible and is still used today.

Derivation and spellings

The following spellings of the name are attested in the Bible and in its translations:

language	Notation (noun)
Masoretic text	יְהוֹשׁוּעַ; יְהוֹשֻׁעַ( J ^e hōschūaʿ );יֵשׁוּעַ( Jēschūaʿ )
Syrian versions	ܝܼܫܘܿܥ (East Syriac), ܺܝܫܽܘܥ (West Syriac) Yeshua
Septuagint and New Testament Greek	Ἰησοῦς ( Iēsūs ); Ωσηε ( Ōsēe ); Ἰἀσων ( Iasōn )
Vulgate	Iosue ; Jesus
German translations	Joshua ; Jesua ; Jesus
English translations	Joshua ; Yehoshua; Jesus

The name Yehoshua was mostly used in the short form Yeshua in Palestine after the Babylonian exile . This is a very common personal name, which is also documented in numerous inscriptions. In the Hebrew Bible , it is primarily the name of the Israelite Yehoshua ben Nun , who leads the people to the promised land of Canaan and after whom the book of Joshua is named.

Yeshua is the name of Jesus of Nazareth given in the New Testament as Ἰησοῦς ( Iēsūs ) .

The origin of the name Yehoshua and its dissimilated form Yeshua has not been finally clarified.

Older lexicons of the Hebrew language indicate a possible derivation from the composition of jhw (short form of YHWH , the name of God in the Hebrew Bible) and šuaʿ (“noble”, “generous”, “noble”) or recognize a derivation from the verb jašaʿ ("to save") as in the name Hoscheaʿ . A statement in the Gospel of Matthew on the etymology of the name of Jesus also speaks for a derivation from the root “save, liberate” . There it says in Mt 1,21 ELB : “And you are to call his name Jesus; for he will save his people from their sins ”.

Newer lexicons rule out that the name derives from the verb jašaʿ . The traditional interpretation of the name as “God is salvation / help / redemption” reckons with the name deriving from the combination of jhw and šuaʿ (“call for help”).

Name bearer

Biblical persons

Yehoshua ben Nun , Israelite tribal leader in the book of Joshua
Jeschua (high priest) (also Jehoshua; ruled around 515 BC - around 490 BC)

Jewish antiquity

Joshua ben Hananiah (about 40 to 100), important Jewish scholar, Tannait, in the Mishnah simply R. Joshua called
Joshua ben Gamla (Jesus ben Gamala), high priest of the Second Temple in Jersulem 64–65 AD and Jewish resistance fighter
Yehoshua ben Qorcha (2nd century), Jewish scholar, Tannait
Yehoshua ben Levi (3rd century), Amorae in Lydda

First name

Josua ben Josef Lorki (also Joschua ha-Lorki; † around 1419), Jewish doctor
Jehoschua Falk (1555–1614), Talmudist and Halachist in Lemberg
Jehoschua Benveniste (Joshua Raphael ben Israel Benveniste; around 1590- around 1665), Jewish scholar in Turkey
Yehoshua Hankin (Yehoshua Hankin, Josua Hankin, also: Chenkin; 1864–1945), Zionist pioneer
Yehoshua Rabinowitz (1911–1979), Israeli Avoda politician and minister
Yehoshua Bar-Hillel (1915–1975), Israeli philosopher, mathematician and linguist
Yehoshua Lakner (Jehoschua Lakner; 1924–2003), Israeli-Swiss composer
Joschua Maza (actually Jehoschua Maza; * 1931), Israeli politician
Yehoshua Kenaz (* 1937), Israeli writer
Joschua Sobol (actually Jehoschua Sobol; * 1939), Israeli playwright and writer

Second first name

Abraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apta, (1748-1825; known as the Apter Rebbe), Hasidic tzaddik

family name

Abraham B. Jehoshua (* 1936), Israeli writer

literature

Encyclopedia Biblica ; London, 1899–1903 (online: http://www.bible-researcher.com/encyclopaedia-biblica.html )
Wilhelm Gesenius: Hebrew and Aramaic Concise Dictionary on the Old Testament , 17th edition (1915); Reprint: Berlin: Springer, 1962
Ludwig Köhler, Walter Baumgartner: Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon for the Old Testament , 3rd edition (1967–1995); Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2004 (reprint); ISBN 90-04-14037-9

Web links

Chr. Rösel: Yeschua. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.

Individual evidence

↑ 1 Sam 6.14 LXX .
↑ Hellenizing form, see: 2 Makk 4.7 EU u. a.
↑ See entry on I.שׁוע at Gesenius.
↑ See entry forישׁעwith Gesenius; D. Diringer: Le iscrizioni antico-ebraiche palestinesi , Florence 1934 (quoted in Köhler / Baumgartner, entry onיֵשׁוּעַ).
↑ See entries onיְהוֹשׁוּעַ, ישׁע and II *שׁוע at Köhler / Baumgartner.
↑ Martin Noth: The Israelite personal names in the context of the common Semitic naming ; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1928. Quoted in Köhler / Baumgartner, entry onיְהוֹשׁוּעַ; Article Joshua in the Encyclopedia Biblica.

[1] 1 Sam 6.14 LXX .

[2] Hellenizing form, see: 2 Makk 4.7 EU u. a.

[3] See entry on I.שׁוע at Gesenius.

[4] See entry forישׁעwith Gesenius; D. Diringer: Le iscrizioni antico-ebraiche palestinesi , Florence 1934 (quoted in Köhler / Baumgartner, entry onיֵשׁוּעַ).

[5] See entries onיְהוֹשׁוּעַ, ישׁע and II *שׁוע at Köhler / Baumgartner.

[6] Martin Noth: The Israelite personal names in the context of the common Semitic naming ; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1928. Quoted in Köhler / Baumgartner, entry onיְהוֹשׁוּעַ; Article Joshua in the Encyclopedia Biblica.