# H3467 - yasha **Strong's:** [H3467](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3467/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** yaw-shah' **Part of speech:** verb, primarily attested in the hiphil (causative) stem **Frequency:** ~205 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, concentrated in Psalms (~60), the Deuteronomistic History (Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 2 Kings), and Isaiah. **LXX equivalents:** σώζω (*sōzō*), σωτηρία (*sōtēria*), ῥύομαι (*rhyomai*), ἐξαιρέω (*exaireō*). **Cognate forms:** *teshuʿah* (deliverance), *yeshuʿah* (salvation; the noun form behind the name), *moshiaʿ* (deliverer; same root as the participle "savior"), *yasha* (the verbal root); the proper names **Joshua** (*Yehoshuaʿ*, "YHWH saves") and **Jesus / Yeshuaʿ** (the contracted post-exilic form). ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs) 1. **To deliver / rescue**, to remove from danger or oppression. The root meaning is *to be wide / spacious / unrestricted*, the picture is of one *brought out into the open* from confinement, oppression, or threat. 2. **To save**, in the soteriological sense, especially with God as subject (Pss; [Isa 43:11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/), "I, even I, am the LORD; and there is no savior besides Me"). 3. **To give victory**, military deliverance (Judges throughout; "the LORD raised up a deliverer"; the judges as *moshiim*). 4. **To preserve / keep safe**, extending the deliverance-from-danger sense. ## Theological force, the name behind the Name The verbal root *yasha* is the most theologically generative root in the Hebrew Bible for soteriology. Its derivatives stand at the center of OT salvation-vocabulary and are the linguistic ground for the personal name of Christ. **Etymology of the name *Jesus*:** - *Yehoshuaʿ* (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ) = *YHWH* (יהוה) + *yashaʿ* (יָשַׁע) = "YHWH saves" / "YHWH is salvation" - *Yeshuaʿ* (יֵשׁוּעַ), the contracted post-exilic form (Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles) - *Iēsous* (Ἰησοῦς), the Greek transliteration of *Yeshuaʿ* - *Jesus*, the English from the Greek The angel's word in [Matthew 1.21](/codex/matthew-1-21/), "you shall call His name Jesus, for **He will save His people from their sins**", is a deliberate Hebrew etymological gloss made transparent in the Greek text. The name is the doctrine: the personal name of Christ asserts that the function of the *Yehoshuaʿ* name (YHWH saves) is now incarnate in the bearer. **The exclusivity-of-salvation tradition.** *Yasha* in [Isaiah 43:11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/), "I, even I, am the LORD; and there is no *moshiaʿ* (savior) besides Me", establishes the OT exclusivity-of-YHWH-as-Savior. The NT's claim that **Jesus saves** ([Acts 4:12](/codex/acts-4-12/), "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved") activates the OT-exclusivity claim and applies it to Jesus, with maximal Christological weight. **Joshua as type.** Moses appoints **Yehoshuaʿ** (Joshua) as his successor, who *brings the people into the land of promise*, typological precursor to *Yeshuaʿ* (Jesus) who *brings the people into the kingdom of God* (cf. [Heb 4:8](/codex/hebrews-4-8/), "if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that"). The same name; the typological pair. ## Notable verses ### The exclusivity of YHWH as Savior - **[Isaiah 43:11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/)**, "I, even I, am the LORD; and there is no savior (*moshiaʿ*) besides Me" - **[Isaiah 45:21](/codex/isaiah-45-21/)**, "there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me" - **[Hosea 13:4](/codex/hosea-13-4/)**, "you know no God but Me, and there is no Savior besides Me" ### Salvation as the LORD's act - **[Exodus 14:13-14](/codex/exodus-14-13-14/)**, "stand by and see the salvation (*yeshuʿat*) of the LORD" - **[Psalms 3:8](/codex/psalms-3-8/)**, "salvation belongs to the LORD" - **[Psalms 27:1](/codex/psalms-27-1/)**, "the LORD is my light and my salvation (*yishʿi*)" - **[Psalms 118:14](/codex/psalms-118-14/)**, "the LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation (*yeshuʿah*)" - **[Isaiah 12:2](/codex/isaiah-12-2/)**, "behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation" ### Eschatological / Messianic salvation - **[Isaiah 49:6](/codex/isaiah-49-6/)**, the Servant as "salvation to the end of the earth" - **[Isaiah 49:8](/codex/isaiah-49-8/)**, "in the day of salvation I have helped You" - **[Isaiah 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/)**, "how lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news... who announces salvation" - **[Isaiah 53:5](/codex/isaiah-53-5/)**, the Suffering Servant; pierced for our transgression, though Hebrew there is *raphah* (heal); the broader Servant-Songs cluster traffics in salvation-vocabulary - **[Zechariah 9:9](/codex/zechariah-9-9/)**, "your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey" ### The judges as saviors / deliverers - **[Judges 2:16](/codex/judges-2-16/)**, "then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them" - **[Judges 3:9](/codex/judges-3-9/), [15](/codex/judges-3-15/); 6:14-15**, the cycle of deliverers - **[1 Samuel 14:39](/codex/1-samuel-14-39/)**, "as the LORD lives, who delivers Israel" ### NT activation of the Hebrew name-meaning - **[Matthew 1.21](/codex/matthew-1-21/)**, "you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" - **[Luke 1:31](/codex/luke-1-31/), [2](/codex/luke-1-2/):11, 2:21**, the angelic announcement and naming - **[Acts 4:12](/codex/acts-4-12/)**, "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven... by which we must be saved" - **[Romans 10:13](/codex/romans-10-13/)**, quoting [Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/): "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved", Paul applies the YHWH-text to Jesus ## Patristic / scholarly note The Christological argument from the name *Jesus / Yehoshuaʿ* is one of the oldest in the Christian tradition. [Justin Martyr](/codex/justin-martyr/) (*Dialogue with Trypho* 75) makes the *Yehoshuaʿ → Yeshuaʿ → Iēsous* chain the basis of an OT-NT typological identification: the Joshua who led Israel into the land prefigures the *Yeshuaʿ* who leads the people into the eschatological inheritance. Origen (*Homilies on Joshua*) develops the typology extensively. Cyril of Jerusalem (*Catechetical Lectures* 10.11) reads the angel's word in [Matt 1:21](/codex/matthew-1-21/) as a Hebrew etymological gloss that transparently identifies Jesus *as YHWH-the-Savior in person*: the One who saves *is* the One the OT named *Yeshuaʿ-of-YHWH*. In the Reformed-evangelical tradition (Murray Harris, *Jesus as God*, 1992; Sinclair Ferguson, *In Christ Alone*, 2007), the *yasha* / *Yeshuaʿ* / *Iēsous* etymology is a load-bearing piece of Christ-deity apologetics: the name *itself* asserts the divine identity of the Savior. The [Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/) / [Romans 10:13](/codex/romans-10-13/) transfer is the canonical hinge, the name on which one calls *for salvation* is the YHWH-name, applied directly to Jesus. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Anchor texts: [Matthew 1.21](/codex/matthew-1-21/) (the angel's etymology), [Acts 4.12](/codex/acts-4-12/) (the no-other-name), [Romans 10.13](/codex/romans-10-13/) (the [Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/) transfer), [Psalms 118:14](/codex/psalms-118-14/). ## See also - [G4990 - soter](/codex/g4990-soter/), *sōtēr* (Savior), Greek correspondent - [G4982 - sozo](/codex/g4982-sozo/), *sōzō* (to save), verbal Greek correspondent - [G4991 - soteria](/codex/g4991-soteria/), *sōtēria* (salvation), nominal Greek correspondent - [H1350 - goel](/codex/h1350-goel/), kinsman-redeemer; adjacent salvation-institution - [H4899 - mashiach](/codex/h4899-mashiach/), *mashiach* (anointed / messiah), adjacent Christological term - [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), the doctrinal hub the name-etymology serves - Passages: [Matthew 1.21](/codex/matthew-1-21/), [Acts 4.12](/codex/acts-4-12/), [Romans 10.13](/codex/romans-10-13/); [Isaiah 43](/codex/isaiah-43/)-49 cluster