Is the Name “Jesus” a Translation or a Transliteration from Hebrew?

By Maria Merola 

© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, August 2007

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Before I address the historical background of how the name “Yahuwshuwa” (Joshua) was shortened to “Yeshua,” and then finally changed to “Jesus,” I want to explain the difference between “translate” and “transliterate.” 

To translate a word from one language into another language means to take the meaning of a name from one language into another language. 

*Example: the word “salvation” in Greek is “soteria,” but in Hebrew, the word for “salvation” is “yeshua.” 

If we want to translate the word “salvation” from Hebrew (yeshua), into Greek, we would use the word “soteria.” 

But to transliterate a name means to correlate the letters from one alphabet to another alphabet. 

*Example: the name of our Messiah is Joshua in Ancient Hebrew which is Yahuwshuwa. 

In Modern Hebrew, it is rendered as Yehowshuwa. 

The Hebrew letters in this name (Joshua) are as follows: 

Yod, Hey, Waw, Shin, Waw, Ayin (YHWSWA). 

If one were to transliterate the name Joshua into Greek, the corresponding six letters should be as follows: 

Hebrew Yod = Greek Iota. 

Hebrew Hey = Greek Epsilon. 

Hebrew Waw (Vav) = Greek Upsilon. 

Hebrew Shin = Greek Sigma. 

Hebrew Waw (Vav) = Greek Upsilon. 

Hebrew Ayin = Greek Omicron. 

Therefore, the corresponding letters to the Hebrew YaHuWShuWA (Joshua) should be rendered in Greek as IEUSUO. 

However, the Greek letters that are used to “transliterate” from the Hebrew YaHuWShuWA (Joshua) are not accurate. The Greek spelling amounts to: IHSOUS. 

Hebrew Yod = Greek Iota. 

Hebrew Chets = Greek Eta. 

Hebrew Shin = Greek Sigma. 

Hebrew Ayin = Greek Omicron. 

Hebrew Waw (Vav) = Greek Upsilon 

Hebrew Shin = Greek Sigma. 

As we can see, the Greek translators were not honest in transliterating the Hebrew name YaHuWShuWA (Joshua) using the corresponding Greek letters. 

For if they had, the name would be “IEUSUO” rather than “IHSOUS.” One has to wonder why they added an extra letter “Sigma” at the end of the name “Joshua,” when it clearly does not match the Hebrew “Ayin.” 

Additionally, the “IHS” (Iota, Eta, Sigma) has been widely known to express the Egyptian pagan trinity of sun worship, for which the Roman Catholic Church has adopted into its Mystery Religion. 

In Ancient Egypt, this trinity is known as “Isis, Horus & Set.” 

To learn more, see this blog: Does the Name “Jesus” Mean “Hail Zeus?”