Yeshua

Yeshua or Y'shua (ישוע; with vowel pointing Yēšūaʿ) was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua (Yəhōšūaʿ) in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple period. The name corresponds to the Greek spelling (Ἰησοῦς), from which, through the Latin IESVS/Iesus, comes the English spelling Jesus. The Hebrew spelling (ישוע) appears in some later books of the Hebrew Bible. Once for Joshua the son of Nun, and 28 times for Joshua the High Priest and other priests called Jeshua – although these same priests are also given the spelling Joshua in 11 further instances in the books of Haggai and Zechariah. It differs from the usual Hebrew Bible spelling of Joshua (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, ), found 218 times in the Hebrew Bible, in the absence of the consonant (ה) and placement of the semivowel (ו) after, not before, the consonant (ש). It also differs from the Hebrew spelling (ישו) which is found in Ben-Yehuda Dictionary and used in most secular contexts in Modern Hebrew to refer to Jesus, although the Hebrew spelling (ישוע) is generally used in translations of the New Testament into Hebrew and used by Hebrew-speaking Christians in Israel. The name Yeshua is also used in Hebrew historical texts to refer to other Joshuas recorded in Greek texts such as Jesus ben Ananias and Jesus ben Sira. In English, the name Yeshua is extensively used by followers of Messianic Judaism, whereas East Syriac Christian denominations use the name in order to preserve the Syriac name of Jesus. The 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, which was made in Aramaic, used Yeshua as the name of Jesus and is the most well-known western Christian work to have done so. Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament The name יֵשׁוּעַ, (transliterated in the English Old Testament as Jeshua), is a late form of the Biblical Hebrew name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, (Joshua), and spelled with a in the second syllable. The Late Biblical Hebrew spellings for earlier names often contracted the theophoric element to . Thus, יהוחנן, , contracted to יוחנן, .