The Names – Yahweh & Yahshua

And I saw, and behold! the Ram [with 7-horns],
standing upon Mount Tzion –– and with him, 144,000,
having His name, Yahushua |,
and His Father’s Name, Yahueh | ,
written upon their foreheads.

REVELATION 14:1

Sacred Use of the Name of

Update to this Teaching is coming!

These letters are known as the Tetragrammaton (the 4-letters).
The source of these letters is Paleo-Hebrew and Aramaic ( ; )
— These are Consonants that were also used as Vowels, as witnessed by the 1st century
Jewish historian, Josephus, and reflected in early Greek Christian Testimony.

The Creators’ 4-Letter Name, YHWH (Yah-weh / Yâhu-eh / Iaue) is published and explained in universities and used in dictionaries, in Christian and Jewish publications and is no secret nor was it lost as falsely claimed by some.[1]Though, some still cling to the form of Yehowah/Jehovah, which was first promulgated in the 1500’s. Traditional Essenes, Samaritans, and Jews have particular rules about its exclusively sacred use ranging from cautious to an extreme avoidance. We will explicitly explain it here, but do not be irreverent with sacred matters–especially The Name, and do not take His name into vanity or into falsity! There are novices today making foolish and ridiculous claims about it. Buyer beware!

Remember, fine Chinaware is brought out and used only on special occasions. Selah (Think about it)

Because of such sacredness, along with secretive teachings concerning it, outsiders after gaining access to it, took the name into vanity and profaneness and even attempt to use it in their magic. There are also those who ridiculously claim that “Jews” are attempting to make the name to be forgotten. They are, most often, on the contrary, treating it as “fine Chinaware” bringing it out only on special occasions! It is written and seen everywhere in their midst!

The Hebrew name ha’Adón Yahushúa ha’Mashíach
devolved into English as the Lord Jesus the Christ
.

Many names in Hebrew were formed around Yhuh/Yhwh. The name of Yahushúa/Joshua is built upon two words:
Yahushúa: from: Yahuéh-Yeshuát: “O Yahueh, I wait for your salvation (Yeshuát)” (Gen. 49:18); “…to restore the natsar of Yisrael;  I will give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation (Yeshuát) to the end of the earth.” (Is. 49:6); See Strongs, H3444; H3442, salvation). It was transliterated to English as Ioshua & Joshua. It should be annunciated as, Yau-Shoo-a, whether written: Yahushua, Yahshua, Y’hoshua, or Yeshua.
YahuShúa devolved into the English pronunciation of Jesus. From Yahushúa → Yahshúa → Yeshúa → Y’Shúa → Yeshu → Yesu → IesousJoshua → Jesus. How so? First, Yahu-Shú-a, (three syllables with normal Hebrew accent on Shú) was abbreviated in writing as Y’Shua or Yeshua in the post-exilic books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. (Notice that the same person is called by both forms here (Ezra 3:2; Zech 6:11). This abbreviated form was later transliterated into Greek as IHSOUS (via limited Greek lettering and grammatical rules) and then standardized as such throughout the Greek Septuagint (LXX) and then from it to the Aramaic New Testament.

The form Y’Shúa / Yeshúa was an abbreviated way to write the original name, though it was pronounced as, Yahu-Shú-a. It was anglicized as Yoshua/Joshua and Yesus/JesusYahshua is how it is written by some now days. Even so, that form should carry the fuller sound with the accent on the second syllable Shu, with a quick rounded sound on the first syllable Yahw, utilizing all three of the dual consonant-vowel letters of the sacred name of: יהוה / Iaue or Iaoe, as a triphthong.[2]The forms Ye-HO-shu-a and Ye-ho-vah, as well as, Ya-Hu-wa and Ya-Hu-sha, I believe are not correct.

יַהְוֶה or יָהוֶּה Yah-weh or Yâhu-eh

Hebrew reads from right to left, like so: 4←3←2←1. The Creator’s 4-letter-name (known as the Tetragrammaton) in Hebrew is: יהוה. If we take the root word, הוה HWH, and add a י (Y), we get: יהוה YHWH (Yud-Hĕy-Wau-Hĕy). And, these 4-consonants also served as vowels. (This was Translated into Greek as, ιαωε eey-ah-o-eh, and, ιαουε – ee-ah-oυ-eh and makes clear its pronunciation that was once uttered more freely in Israel.) Following grammatical rules, we find the pronunciation and meaning of His Name. Observe the letters with the voweling marks underneath:

a) הָוָה   HÂ-WÂH, an Aramaic root verb also used in the Hebrew Bible;
to be, to exist, to become, come to pass;

b) הֹוֶה   HO-WEH, a Hebrew root verb; to be; to exist;

c) הָיָה   HÂ-YÂH, is a synonym of HÂ-WÂH and HO-WEH with the same meaning, as in; “And it was/is/shall be”: וְהָיָה

d) אֶֽהְיֶה  EH-YEH, “I Am” or “I Will Be” (Ex 3:14) 1st Person
Masculine Singular  Qal   Imperfect of the verb HÂ-WÂH;

e) יִהְיֶה  YIH-YEH, “He will be”   3rd Person
Masculine Singular    Qal   Imperfect of the verb HÂ-WÂH;

f) יַהְוֶה  YAHWEH, “He causes to be” 3rd Person
Masculine Singular   Hophil   Imperfect of the verb HÂ-WÂH

g) יָהְוֶה   YÂHWEH, “He is caused to respond” 3rd Person
Masculine Singular   Hophal   Imperfect of the verb HÂ-WÂH or

h) יָהוּהֵ  YÂHUHEY   

This last form is from, Rav Ariel Bar Tzaddok, who is an expert in Hebrew and very esoteric. As a Jewish Teacher, he cautions against actually pronouncing it. He published a paper explaining this pronunciation. He stated that the root of the name is the Hebrew verb, הֹוֶה howeh, to be, and that adding the letter Yod י to a root verb, conjugates it from passive to active tense. He says, that the “Yahu” part is identical to the end of names (as in Netanyahu or Eliyahu, not ya-hu). This he also relates to a concentration technique. Repeating with proper intent: inhale slowly through the nose, mentally saying, Yahu, and exhale through the mouth, Hey.

In addition, we note briefly, that it could also be that Yah-weh is masculine form and Yah-wah is feminine form. The default pronunciation for nouns in Hebrew is masculine but also can include the feminine. Just as a man says in Hebrew: Modéh Ani (I give thanks), a woman says, Modáh Ani (I give thanks). A male teacher is a Moréh and a female teacher is a Moráh. A man is an Ish and a woman is an Isháh. A male parent is a Horéh and a female parent is a Horáh.

The root of (a) HÂ-WÂH, shown in the chart above, has a further root: meaning, to breathe. (H1933 in Strong’s Concordance: הָוָה hawah.) We find that Yahweh-Yahwah is abbreviated at the beginning and ending of names as Yahw and even further as Yah, as in HaleluYah. But, even this Yah is voweled with the more rounded “ahw”. So, הַלְלוּיָהּ HaleluYâh is pronounced as: HaleluYâhw, and with a heavier ‘h’. A pathach ַ  has an “ah” sound as in “father” and a qâmets ָ  has an “ahw” sound as in “law”.

In compound names there is a shift of emphasis in syllables. In such cases, the sound of Yahw at the beginning of a name is shortened, so that Yahushúa is written like this: Y’huShúa or YahuShúa or YәhoShúa. We will cover this more shortly. We also find another abbreviation in compound names, shortening יהו to יו as in Yoél (Joel) יואל = יהואל YahwÉl. And, Yoḥanan (John) יוחנן = יהוחנן = YahuḤanán. YahuShua, YahuḤanan, YahuEl, and many others.

And Yahushúa dwelt in a city called Nazareth/Nazara, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazirite. Matthew 2:23; Judges 13:5
And Kĕpha said… “In the name of Yeshúa ha’Mashíach ha’Nazareth, rise up and walk!” Acts 3:6
[Sha’ul/Paul] is a ringleader of the sect of the Netsarim.” Acts 24:5; Isaiah 11:1

As stated, the Hebrew name of “ha’Adón Yahushúa ha’Mashíach” evolved into “the Lord Jesus Christ” in English. And, the form Y’Shúa or Yeshúa was an abbreviated way to write the original name. It was pronounced as, Yahu-Shú-a, and was anglicized as Joshua. Yahushúa has come down to us in the hybrid form of Jesus, via Greek and Latin.

Yahu-hey: יהוה
YahuShua: in full-form: .יהושוע Abbreviated as: יהושע and ישׁוע.
English: Joshua Yahushúa, same as Yahu-shúa. Abbreviated as ישׁוע Y’Shúa. (Ezra 3:2) יהושע  YahuShúa. (Zech 6:11). But, this is the same person and pronunciation should be the same.The Masoretes[3]The Masoretic Scribes created the vowel & vocalic signs in the early middle ages. A monumental work, but maybe not absolutely perfect. voweled it יֵשׁוּע YeyShúa.
At some point, all uses in the LXX were uniformly edited to Ιησους. This passed into Latin & Middle English Iesus, & then Modern English as Jesus. So that it no longer has any resemblance to the original.

Let’s take it deeper

יהוה – Yhwh: remove the final ה-h and get יהו – Yhw. Add שוע – Shua – יהושוע: From Yahu-hey to YahuShua (Numb 13:16). ישע – Yasha is the root of, הושע – Husha (Joshua’s original name). It contains the 2nd and 3rd letters of the name of יהוה in it. Mosheh took the first letter י of יהוה and added it to הושע and got יהושע. He also gave the שע (Sha) the fuller form of שוע-Shua from (שָׁוַע Shawa), to get, יהושוע-YahuShua (See Dt 3:21 & Jos 2:7, these are the same in Masoretic and DSS texts.).

   Note: Many words in Hebrew have a full form and a contracted form. יהושוע is the full form, but was usually written in a slightly contracted form as יהושע ; however, it retained its fuller pronunciation. This is obvious from a later abbreviation in Ezra 3:2: ישׁוע . (Compare also, יְשׁוּעָה yashuah and yashuati in Is 26:2., and Elishua and Elisha, אלישׁוע & אלישׁע, in 2 Sam 5:15 & 1 Kings 19:16). When we add the proper vowels to יהושוע, we arrive at Yahw-Shú-a (the accented syllable is Shú). The name of יהושוע, was also contracted to, ישׁוע – Y’Shúa, but the pronunciation did not change—see both forms, in Ezra 3:2 and Zech 6:11, is used for the same person. Those who were unfamiliar with this read it as: ישׁוע – YShúa and transliterated it into Greek.

In the DSS, we have portions of scripture written in Greek that are dated to the first century B.C. In 4QLXXLevb, the 4-letter-name was transliterated with 3 of the 4 letters as: ΙΑΩ—(Ε, the 4th letter, was left out. The lower-case is ιαω—(ε). Thus, two ways of transliterating יהושוע into Greek is: ιαωσους and ιαυσους. The ιαω and ιαυ form a triphthong (when 3-vowels are pronounced within 1-syllable, like, oil – o ee ul). This produces: IaoShúa or IauShúa, virtually the same. Furthermore, the successional evidence in Greek manuscripts indicates a change from the transliteration of Yahu-hey as Iaoe or Iaue, to writing the 4-letter name in Aramaic (יהוה) and Paleo Hebrew scripts, and then to replacing it with alternatives: from ιαωε to ιαω to יהוה and יהוה in Paleo Hebrew, then a switch to using κυριος (Kyrios=Lord)[4]Howard, George, The Tetragram and the New Testament, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 96, No. 1 (Mar., 1977), pp. 63-83, The Society of Biblical literature and the University of Georgia, Athens … Continue reading and θεος (Theos=God) avoiding the pronunciation of Yahu-hey. In this altering, ιαωσους was abbreviated as, ιησους. To repeat: YahuShúa was sometimes written in an abbreviated form as, Y’Shúa, but maintained its original pronunciation as, YahuShúa. We mostly write it as Yeshúa / YShúa as this is more comfortable for English speakers.

     The Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Hebrew books of Moses was done in about 280 BC. The copies brought down to us (with possible editing), translated both forms of the Hebrew name, יהושוע and ישׁוע, into one form, IHSOUS (ιησους). The Greek vowel letters “IH” (iota and eeta) in IHSOUS (ιησους) were used for the two letters YaH but to be understood as the whole sound of the three letters יהו, Yahu of YahuShúa as the Israelites spoke it. When a Greek speaker, who had never heard an Israelite pronouncing Y’huShúa, he would simply read the Greek lettering as, eeaysous.

There is no equivalent Greek letter for the Yud י and the Hei ה of Hebrew. One must use the closest sounds available along with other considerations. The eeta Η η (upper and lower case), however, is sometimes carries a breathing sound like the Hei ה in Hebrew. In fact, the capital letter for the eeta η in Greek is Η. Further, in Greek, there is no equivalent “sh” sound for the Hebrew “sh-שׁ”, so the sigma (σ) is used (notice how it was doubled in the word, Meσσiaς– Messiah in John 1:41; 4:25). The ου is a dipthong equivalent to the voweled sound of the waw ו – oo as in loot. And, at the end of Ιησους, a final sigma (ς) was added to make it a masculine name in the nominative case. Otherwise, it would have sounded feminine to the Greek ear—compare the names Julia and Julius. So, we have an abbreviated Hebrew name that has been rendered into Greek, into Latin and English as shown in the chart above. The “I” hardened into a hard “Ja” sound in the 16th and 17th centuries, from Iesus to Jesus.

Want to go further? Send me an email


References

References
1 Though, some still cling to the form of Yehowah/Jehovah, which was first promulgated in the 1500’s.
2 The forms Ye-HO-shu-a and Ye-ho-vah, as well as, Ya-Hu-wa and Ya-Hu-sha, I believe are not correct.
3 The Masoretic Scribes created the vowel & vocalic signs in the early middle ages. A monumental work, but maybe not absolutely perfect.
4 Howard, George, The Tetragram and the New Testament, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 96, No. 1 (Mar., 1977), pp. 63-83, The Society of Biblical literature and the University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602.
Scroll to Top