Names, Translations and Transliterations

Names, Translations and Transliterations.
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!

Glorious Grace

1 John 1 Amplified Bible
1 [I am writing about] what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life [the One who existed even before the beginning of the world, Christ]— 2 and the Life [an aspect of His being] was manifested, and we have seen [it as eyewitnesses] and testify and declare to you [the Life], the eternal Life who was [already existing] with the Father and was [actually] made visible to us [His followers]— 3 what we have seen and heard we also proclaim to you, so that you too may have fellowship [as partners] with us. And indeed our fellowship [which is a distinguishing mark of born-again believers] is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be made complete [by having you share in the joy of salvation].

“What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked. Jesus answered, “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent.” - John 6:28-29 CEV

They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. - John 6:28-29 ASV

Hebrews 4:11 King James Version (KJV)
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Hebrews 4:11 Amplified Bible (AMP)
11 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience [as those who died in the wilderness].

If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O L0rd, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared (revered, worshiped). - Psalm 130:3-4

1 John 1 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
1 The Word, which gives life!
He existed from the beginning.
We have heard him,
we have seen him with our eyes,
we have contemplated him,
we have touched him with our hands!
2 The life appeared,
and we have seen it.
We are testifying to it
and announcing it to you —
eternal life!
He was with the Father,
and he appeared to us.
3 What we have seen and heard,
we are proclaiming to you;
so that you too
may have fellowship with us.
Our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Yeshua the Messiah.
4 We are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete.
5 And this is the message which we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him — none!
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth. 7 But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.
10 If we claim we have not been sinning, we are making him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.
~~~~~

Some say they have never sinned. I don't believethey don't know what sin is. Some say they are obeying the commandments. And many are obeying them. But can anyone now living in his or her earthen vessel say they are flawless, and will never sin again? Can any say they now no longer need to confess their sins?

The Old Covenant commandments are not able to save us. God's chosen people were not able to keep the 10 commandments. If they had, there would have been no need to add the additional 603 commandments. Had those (then) 613 commandments been kept, and if the blood of sheep and rams been able to cleanse and save us, to reconcile us to God, there would be no need for Jesus to have given His Life's blood for our salvation. To count on obeying commandments to save us is to ignore the rest of the story. Jesus came to fulfill the law and to keep it. His death was the expunging of all our sin and guilt. His blood took away the sting of death.

>>>>----> The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: 1 Corinthians 15:56

Jesus came to lift the condemnation of the law off of those who would trust that He could do it!

>>>>----> For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:2

2Corinthians 3 Is a very powerful Chapter. We cannot excuse our sins and walk well in the Spirit. But can we walk well in the Spirit confessing them? We cannot live if we walk in the law.

2Corinthians 3:4 And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which glory was passing away: 8 how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation hath glory, much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For verily that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth. 11 For if that which passeth away was with glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory.

The law would be sufficient if we could keep it. My observation has been that those who try to"keep" the law, the 613 commandments become embittered with an inner discouragement that no joy is produced by that effort. And not only, they seem to think that those who do not as they do are heretics and lesser beings.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I do not live in a constant state of spiritual ecstasy. But I know that the law, though glorious, is given to expose my sins. It IS "the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones."

I have often wondered at Psalm 119 and other Psalms. Why did David love the law so much? I think it was because David KNEW the Lord in the Holy Spirit. The law had humbled him and he drew near to the Lord out of that humility. That is the message of Romans Ch. 5, yes? That while we were yet sinners God loved us and had our redemption prepared for the new birth of our faith.

There is the failure of sin. And there is the failure of unbelief.

Romans 5 American Standard Version (ASV)
1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 2 through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness; 4 and stedfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope: 5 and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us. 6 For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life; 11 and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned:— 13 for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the trespass, so also is the free gift. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many. 16 And not as through one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment came of one unto condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses unto justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification of life. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous. 20 And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly: 21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Baltimore Ground Zero

Baltimore Ground Zero

I live in Southwest Baltimore, 2.2 miles from Pratt Street and Monroe Street which is Ground Zero in the current left/right controversy. There you will find rats, mice, bed bugs and trash including used hypodermic needles. You'll find them in other areas of Baltimore too. I see rats in my backyard from time to time. When it gets cold in the winter time the mice find a way in my house. You'll find this in most major cities in America and not a few around the world.

It's unrealistic to expect National governments to solve these local problems. The first responsible for them are the residents. Obviously the residents here are not able to solve the problems that more than a few of their neighbors cause. Nor is it their responsibility! People, after all, are responsible for their own actions.

In the mid-1980s I drove a taxi here. I was driving in a neighborhood very close to Pratt and Monroe one afternoon. I smelled a bad smell. Not rats. Human waste. It was overpowering. I suspect it was a broken sewer line. In a well-to-do neighborhood there should have been public or private contractors fixing it. But this neighborhood was take your pick, infested with or inhabited by drug addicts and prostitutes. And, as you might imagine, also INHABITED by some very poor families. There were young children playing in the street. I wondered how long it had smelled that bad and how long it would smell that bad.

I came to Baltimore 43 years ago. Contrary to what you might have been told, my experience is that things have actually improved since that time. But not at Pratt and Monroe. And not everywhere in Baltimore. In 1976 I lived on Patterson Park Avenue directly across from the park. That is Southeast Baltimore. It was a stinking mess. Packs of dogs, 5 to 15 dogs at a time more or less ran through the park and the neighborhoods and defecated all over the sidewalks. The park was not well cared for. Trash was a problem. Now there is great improvement in that neighborhood. The city has eliminated the dog problem. The park is much nicer. You can walk the sidewalks comfortably. A good bit of the neighborhood on the south side of the park is relatively new construction. Some of these and other neighborhoods now gentrified were as bad as those near Pratt and Monroe are today.

Our Inner Harbor was a landscape of rotting creosote coated timbers and pilings, the ruins of wooden docks for a once very busy commercial port. Today it's a Marketplace built by the same people who rehabbed The Harbor at Boston Mass. It has a small Marina. It is home to the USS Constellation, a U.S. Navy warship commissioned in 1855. We have the USS Torsk, a U.S. submarine commissioned in 1944. We have a science museum and the National Aquarium! Commerce at the Inner Harbor was thriving for a good while. But the Obama administration caused economic decline from which it needs to recover. There are too many empty properties in what was once quite full of businesses.

The shoreline of the Inner Harbor eastward through Fells Point and on to the foot of Clinton Street has been developed into middle and upper middle class housing complete with marinas. It too was in great disrepair 1976. These improvements would never have come through socialism. It was pure and simple our capitalist economic freedom that improved the shoreline here. Socialism would never have done it. Socialism may destroy it! Welfare socialism is, I believe, almost entirely responsible for the mess at Pratt and Monroe.

Baltimore is 70% or more African American. But in here in Southwest Baltimore there are some number of poor whites, destitute whites and white drug addicts. It's not a racial problem, it's a human problem. Alcoholism used to be a very public problem in the poor neighborhoods. It's not so obvious now. Perhaps people prefer the cheap heroin and marijuana. West Baltimore is not the only place here where white and black suffer... DARE I SAY TOGETHER?

Finally I note that Baltimore has been called the evangelists graveyard. There are hundreds if not thousands of denominations and non-denominational congregations. All the main line and all the ancient denominations are here. Baltimore is headquarters for the Roman Catholics who have been here for 229 years. Perhaps we do not have heaven on Earth in Baltimore because Christendom is fractured here.

News flash: FYI: ATTEN:
The Messiah Jesus is only building one Church.

In the Lord's Prayer, more accurately called the disciples prayer, that is the prayer giving by the Lord to the disciples, we read: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Certainly we should go about finding out what is being done in heaven.