The Hebrew Link between Yeshua, Victory, and Salvation

“Salvation is for a man to be saved from all his enemies; for until a man can triumph

over death, he is not saved.”

- Joseph Smith

When reading the Old Testament in the original Hebrew I use the Mechon-Mamre Hebrew-English Bible, which gives the English translation side-by-side with the Hebrew block script. (Click on this link to view it on-line.) Besides comparing the Mechon-Mamre English translation to the original Hebrew, I also evaluate it against the King James Version. It turns out that the two English translations often vary in subtle ways. In other instances, they diverge significantly.

One key to identifying a Hebrew-language connection between English words that now have divergent meanings is finding cases where two English terms are translated interchangeably in different passages of scripture. Over the past few months I’ve come across an example that occurs frequently throughout the Old Testament. Variants of the Hebrew verb לְהוֹשִׁיעַ (leh-ho-shee-AH) are routinely translated as “to save, deliver, rescue, preserve from” or alternatively as “to give victory to”, with the Mechon-Mamre and KJV translations regularly flip-flopping the uses of “salvation” and “victory” from one passage to the other.

For example, the forms of the verb לְהוֹשִׁיעַ (leh-ho-shee-AH) that appear in Psalms 98:1-2 read differently depending on which translation you use. I’ve highlighted the verbal and nominal forms of leh-ho-shee-AH in each verse.

Hebrew:

מִזְמוֹר, שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה שִׁיר חָדָשׁ כִּי-נִפְלָאוֹת עָשָׂה הוֹשִׁיעָה-לּוֹ יְמִינוֹ, וּזְרוֹעַ קָדְשׁו

יְשׁוּעָתוֹלְעֵינֵי הַגּוֹיִם גִּלָּה צִדְקָתוֹ הוֹדִיעַ יְהוָה 

King James Version:

ֹ1) O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

2) The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

Mechon-Mamre:

1) O sing unto the LORD a new song; for He hath done marvelous things; His right hand, and His holy arm, hath wrought salvation for Him.

2) The LORD hath made known His salvation; His righteousness hath He revealed in the sight of the nations.

Notice that in this passage the King James Version translators rendered the Hebrew root word (leh-ho-shee-AH) as two distinct English terms, using “victory” in the first verse and “salvation” in the second. You’ll also note that the KJV translation of the first verse differs significantly from the Mechon-Mamre in word choice, if not in meaning, since the doctrinal concepts of “getting the victory” and “working out one’s salvation” really aren’t that far removed from one another in English. The fact that both translations, one using “victory” and the other “salvation”, arrive at the same general meaning illustrates that these two terms have a doctrinal-conceptual link rooted in the Hebrew verb leh-ho-shee-AH.

Here’s a second example from the Old Testament (1 Chronicles 18:13) where the Hebrew verb leh-ho-shee-AH is translated using the two distinct, but conceptually related, English terms:

וַיּוֹשַׁע יְהוָה אֶת-דָּוִיד, בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר הָלָךְ

KJV: “Thus the Lord preserved (i.e., saved, rescued) David whithersoever he went.”

Mechon-Mamre: “And the LORD gave victory to David whithersoever he went.”

This interchangeability of meaning also exists in the New Testament, with 1 Corinth 15:57 serving as an example:

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory (i.e., salvation) through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This verse leads us to the most important linguistic and doctrinal connection between “victory” and “salvation” – the name Jesus. This Latin variation of the Greek Iēsous was adopted from the Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (yeh-SHOO-ah). Both יֵשׁוּעַ (yeh-SHOO-ah) and the noun that signifies “salvation” or “deliverance”, יְשׁוּעָה (yeh-shoo-AH), come from the verb leh-ho-shee-AH. The only significant difference in spelling between the two words is the final silent heh (ה) that appears at the end of “salvation”, יְשׁוּעָה (yeh-shoo-AH). The doctrinal-linguistic link between Jesus’ name and His role as Savior is so important that the angel who appeared to Joseph prior to our Lord’s birth specifically told him “…thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21, emphasis added)

Messianic Jews (believers in Jesus as the Messiah who continue observing Jewish customs, festivals and holidays), Orthodox Jews, and secular Jews alike understand the linguistic connection between the name yeh-SHOO-ah and the Hebrew word for “salvation”. This is why they refer to Jesus in distinct ways, depending on how they regard Him. To maintain the inherent spiritual significance of the name Jesus (yeh-SHOO-ah), Messianic Jews always refer to Him by this name, often tagging on the suffixed title “The Messiah” (“The Anointed”), מָשִׁיחַה יֵשׁוּעַ (yeh-SHOO-ah hah meh-SHEE-akh). On the other hand, Jews and Hebrew speakers who don’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah call him by a different name, יֵשׁוּ (YEH-shoo), a name that’s unrelated to the verb leh-ho-shee-AH. This practice severs the doctrinal-linguistic thread between Jesus and redemption, in effect assigning Him a role as a mere historical figure. A common modified variation of the secular YEH-shoo is הַנוֹצרִי יֵשׁוּ (YEH-shoo hah nohtz-REE), meaning Jesus the Nazarene or Jesus of Nazareth.

The link below will take you to a short YouTube documentary about Messianic Jews living in Israel.

See the YouTube video link:

So, the name Jesus is itself a reference to His role as Savior of the world and the One who gives us victory over death and sin, through His sufferings and resurrection.

“And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men; having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.” (Mosiah 15:8-9, emphasis added)