A: The Bible was not written in English. What we read in English today are translations from other languages. The "New Testament" was written in Greek. Hence, the name "Jesus" is found nowhere in the Scriptures—it is a translation of the Greek name "Iesous" (pronounced "[ee]yeh-sooce").  "Iesous" came over into the Latin "Jesu" (pronounced "yehsoo") and finally into English as "Jesus."  So in the most technical sense, saying "Jesus" is saying a twice-removed translation of the name we find in the "New Testament" Scriptures.

When we move backwards, we also find that "Iesous" is itself a translation of another name. According to Matthew 1:21, we find the meaning of the name that is translated "Jesus" in English.  It says he is to be given this name because "he will save his people from their sins."  As David Stern says, “…in English, saving people from sins is no more reason for calling someone Jesus than for calling him Bill or Frank…. only in Hebrew… does [Matthew's] explanation explain.”

In the Hebrew, the name "Y’hoshua" (translated "Joshua" in English) means "the Lord (Adonai) saves". Also in Hebrew, the word for "salvation" is "yeshuah’".  Finally, we also find a contraction of "Y’hoshua" in the Hebrew Scriptures in the form of "Yeshua," which means, "he will save" (just like in Matthew 1:21).  We find this name in the Chronicles as well as Ezra and Nehemiah, usually translated in English "Jeshua".

So, here is the evolution of the name Yeshua:

A: This is really quite a simple exercise. The name יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua) appears multiple times in Ezra and Nehemiah and once in each of the books of Chronicles. In the English, you can usually find it as “Jeshua”. To arrive at the correct pronunciation, however, you have to accept the Masoretic vowel pointings. Those who are insistent upon the “YAHshua” pronunciation reject the traditional Masoretic vowel pointings when it does not suit their beliefs.

The name begins with a י (yud), which carries with it the sound of our English “Y”. The vowel point associated with the yud is the ֵ (tsere), which makes the vowel sound “eh” in sephardic/modern Hebrew (“ey” in Ashkenaz). So the first sound is יֵ "yeh".

The second letter is the שׁ (shin), which makes the “sh” sound. The שׁ is followed by a ו (vav) with the וּ (shuruk) pointing, which makes an “oo” sound. (The ו alone makes a “v” sound, but when it appears as וּ the ו functions as a vowel.) Together, יֵשׁוּ makes the sound “yeh-shoo”.

The final letter is the ע (ayin). By itself, the ע is a silent letter, however, it appears as עַ with the ַ (patakh) vowel pointing, which adds the “ah” sound to the letter.

Together, the three syllables of יֵשׁוּעַ are pronounced “yeh-shoo-ah”. We transliterate this in English as “Yeshua.” There is no way to get the “Yah” sound from this spelling, and there is no Scriptural reason to spell it differently.