IS YESHUA OR JESUS OR ?

Yeshua is the Hebrew name Jesus was given at birth, and it means “Yahwah sets free.” Over time, that name came into English through a process of transliteration. Yeshua comes from the older Hebrew name Yehoshua (Joshua), which was commonly shortened to Yeshua in the post-exilic period (Ezra 2:2; Neh. 8:17). So when the angel instructed Mary about His name (Matt. 1:25), the name spoken would have been Yeshua. If the longer form Yehoshua had been used, the Greek form of the name would likely have looked quite different from what we know as Jesus.

By the first century, Hebrew names were commonly spoken in an Aramaic-influenced environment, and shortened forms such as Yeshu were in use. When the name was written in Koine Greek, it became Iēsous, with the final “s” added to fit Greek masculine grammar. The same process explains why the KJV gives us forms like Elias, Jeremias (Matt. 16:14), and Esaias (Matt. 3:3). Over time, most translations returned those names to their Hebrew forms, but Jesus remained the English form in common use. As the English alphabet developed and the letter J became standard (beginning in the 15th century and solidifying later), Iesus eventually came to be spelled Jesus, which is the form we use today.