In our English Bibles the Son of God is identified as Jesus Christ. We know that He was born of a virgin named Mary who was of the tribe of Judah and the House of David. Jesus is Jewish in His humanity. So He would have a Jewish name in their language which is Hebrew. But the New Testament is written in Greek. Some say it was first written in Hebrew. But there is just no evidence that is so. Even if it were true, the only manuscripts we have are written in Greek.
JESUS is the English translation of the Greek word Ἰησοῦς. The word Ἰησοῦς is transliterated into English as Iesous. It's very important to realize that there are translations and transliterations. Iesous is a transliteration. Jesus is a translation. Christ is the English translation of the Greek word Χριστός. Χριστός is transliterated from the Greek into English as Christos. Transliteration are made so that we may pronounce the Greek word as Greeks pronounce it. This is necessary because the Greek alphabet is entirely different than English. The same is true for Hebrew words. In any language where the alphabets are different, transliterations can be made to enable pronounciation.
Now for Jesus name in Hebrew. What did the people of his day call him? This is an interesting question, VERY! From Wikipedia:
"It is generally agreed by historians that Jesus and his disciples primarily spoke Aramaic (Jewish Palestinian Aramaic), the common language of Judea in the first century AD, most likely a Galilean dialect distinguishable from that of Jerusalem."
I may have to undertake an investigation to find out the Aramaic name for Jesus. This matter is rarely on anyone's radar screen today. What is on the radar screen for many is the name for Jesus in Hebrew. Also for the title Christ. (Now as I'm editing this it comes to mind that Christ is Jesus title not his last name!) Hebrew is written from right to left, so giving his name in Hebrew text here may prove to be technologically problematic... but I will try.
I'll start with Hebrew for Christ. Christ means the anointed one. They were many anointed Jews in the Old Testament. I think most or all of Israel's Kings were anointed. But in Daniel chapter 9 verses 25 and 26 there is reference to THE anointed one. It is a reference to our Lord and Saviour. In the King James the word used for the anointed one is Messiah. Messiah is the English translation of the Hebrew word in those verses. The English transliteration of the Hebrew word is mashiyach. That is how the Hebrew words would sound as transliterations are given for the purpose of pronunciations.
[ I've been in the habit of using a variant transliteration spelled mashiach. ]
[ It's worth noting here that transliterations and translations are not pronounced alike. Messiah and machiyach both refer to the anointed one, that is to say Christ.
Jesus and Iesous do not sound the same but both name the Saviour. ]
The Hebrew word we translate as Messiah and transliterate as machiyach is in Hebrew letters:
מָשִׁיחַ
Notice that because Hebrew is written right to left it appears on the right hand side of the page. Technology is such a marvelous thing! ... when it works the way I want it to work!!!
For the Hebrew word translated into English as Jesus please consider these two passages:
But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins. Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us. - Matthew 1:20-23
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God. - Isaiah 43:10-12
In these wonderful passages we see the Savior and we see that he is God, and God with us. And we see that Angel declare that Joseph will call his name Jesus. He and we call his name Jesus BECAUSE He will save us from our sins! Only He can and He says of Himself in Isaiah: "beside me there is no Saviour." He also says "I am God."
THAT it powerful!
It is accepted and acceptable and I hope you will accept it, that the name Jesus means salvation. That is the nearest definition of His name. So what is the Hebrew word for Jesus? The word accepted is derived from the Hebrew word translated into English as salvation. This word is found in Strong's Concordance as number H3444. It is found in 77 verses in the Old Testament. It is in Hebrew text
יְשׁוּעָה
Now for it us English speakers to pronounce this word we have to transliterate it into our English alphabet. The Hebrew word for salvation transliterated is
yeshooaw. And not to be religiously legalistic we must admit to varying transliterations. The spelling yeshooaw is from Strong's Hebrew dictionary. Another dictionary gives it as yeshuwah. The most agreed upon and widely used transliteration is yeshua although some prefer y'shua. Capitalized as a proper name it is Yeshua. So we read in the Complete Jewish Bible:
The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Miryam, for you have found favor with God. Look! You will become pregnant, you will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua. He will be great, he will be called Son of Ha‘Elyon. Adonai , God, will give him the throne of his forefather David; and he will rule the House of Ya‘akov forever — there will be no end to his Kingdom.” - Luke 1:30-33
Note that there are four other transliterated names in these verses!
SUMMARY
GREEK:
Ἰησοῦς Χριστός
ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION:
Iesous Christos
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Jesus Christ
HEBREW [note I'm not nearly as confident about the exact usages of these Hebrew words as I am about the Greek words. I offer this caveat and welcome correction and a more precise exposition.]
HEBREW:
יְשׁוּעָה מָשִׁיחַ
ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION:
Yeshua ha Mashiach
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Jesus the Messiah
Hope this helps!
