I think everyone knows that the name Jesus is Greek, but why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses use his Hebrew name, which is closer to Joshua than to Jesus?
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Closer perhaps, but arguably not exactly identical. So if both are approximations, why choose one over the other?– WaggersCommented Oct 11, 2011 at 7:57
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Given they are close in Hebrew their English and other modern language forms vary significantly more, to the point they do not appear related.– Frederico.34Commented Oct 11, 2011 at 8:09
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See also: Jesus and Mary / Joshua and Miriam and Is God's name Yahweh or Jehovah?– StackExchange saddens dancekCommented Oct 11, 2011 at 9:03
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8"Jesus" is not Greek--it's English. The Greek is more like "Iesous". The name "Jesus" is derived from that Greek word.– NarnianCommented Dec 21, 2012 at 17:29
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4Also for JWs, Jehovah and Jesus are not on the same "level", so to speak, because they do not believe in trinity. So while Jehovah is the name of God (and was actually in common use in Europe and elsewhere long before JWs), Jesus is a being created by God (as the bible refers to him as the "first born of all creation" in Col. 1:15). For this reason JWs would not direct worship to Jesus (or Mary, or the "saints", for that matter) nor pray directly to Jesus, being that prayer is a form of worship.– user19845Commented Oct 21, 2017 at 23:10
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5 Answers
There's a problem with one of your assumptions: Jehovah's Witnesses don't use Jehovah "to be accurate". They use Jehovah because they think it's important to call God by name, and because Jehovah is the traditional rendering in English. They accept that the original pronunciation has been lost, and argue that were it important, Jehovah God would not have allowed it to be lost. They do make linguistic arguments in favour of a trisyllabic pronunciation, but these are lesser considerations.
They also remark that many names contain elements of the divine name: Jeremiah and Jehoshaphat, for example. They argue that if you were to change Jehovah to Yahweh, you should, for the sake of consistency, change these names too.
For more information, see their official publication The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever.
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1"They use Jehovah because they think it's important to call God by name". Do you happen to know why they think that? Some Christians don't do that out of respect (Just as you wouldn't dare call the president by name). What is their reason for believing the opposite? Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 7:20
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3God want's us to know his name. There are quite a few instances in the bibles that tell us that, such as Psalm 83:18 "May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth." Man decided that God's name was too holy to be said. If that where the case would God have given us his name? No, then clearly this thought of not using his name out of respect is from man.– JeremyCommented Dec 4, 2013 at 21:03
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1The publication you mention is not available online, but the excerpt on "Jehovah" from Insight, which makes many of the same points, is available here. Commented Mar 29, 2017 at 17:51
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1@MonikaMichael, as to "Just as you wouldn't dare call the president by name"...based on what logic? People have been calling Donald J Trump and all previous presidents by their names (and worse) since the declaration of independence.– user19845Commented Oct 21, 2017 at 23:14
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1@Mr.Bultitude The publication is now available on jw.org. I've edited in a link to it.– user32540Commented Jun 4, 2018 at 2:14
The actual pronunciation of the tetragrammaton is up for debate. If a person leaned toward "Yahweh" or "Yehovah," we wouldn't have a problem with that. But "Jehovah" is the most accepted version in English, and a viable translation.
Jesus is an acceptable English translation OF the greek version (Iesous) of a name that would more directly be transliterated Yeshua (which would be directly translated "Joshua"). Most of us recognize that and would have no problem with a more original pronunciation. But most of the biblical names translated into modern versions had a different original pronunciation... the point is that we recognize which individual is which.
No, we do not believe in a trinity and do not believe Jesus is a "person of a Godhead." But Jesus is still our lord and savior, the son of God, our messiah and king. We believe everything he said about himself, including what he said at John 14:28 and 17:3.
This is my understanding from studying with a JW who visited my home and became a weekly visitor over the course of several months. (I am not JW, but am not opposed to study.) During the course of this study, I was informed that they (JW) do not believe in the trinity. They are not concerned with honoring Jesus in the same way that God should be honored.
(Also, the correct name for Jesus, according to Jewish tradition is Yeshua.)
Its the same reason why Jehovah's Witnesses use Jehovah which is not Hebrew or Greek.
What matter most is that you are using the accepted equivalent translation in your own language or dialect to pertain to God or to his son, Jesus, and you are not constraint of using their names because of their original pronunciation is lost through time.
answered Nov 2, 2011 at 1:22
You used Jehovah even though if you wanted something close to the original Hebrew you should have used Yahweh.
You ask why Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t use the Hebrew for Jesus, when you yourself use the English for God’s name instead of the Hebrew. Why? Because that the natural way in our language.
We use the language common to the people in the land we live in. If I lived in Israel, then I would use Hebrew, or if in Greece I would use Greek, but in England (or the USA) we the English version.
Examples of Jesus’ name in various languages:
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Jesus |
| Albanian | Jezusi |
| Arabic (Islamic or Classical Arabic) | (’Isà) عيسى |
| Arabic (Christian or Latter Arabic) | (Yasū’) يسوع |
| Amharic | ኢየሱስ |
| Aragonese | Chesús |
| Aramaic/Syriac | ܝܫܘܥ (Isho) |
| Arberesh | Isuthi |
| Armenian (Eastern Armenian) | Հիսուս (Hisus) |
| Armenian (Western Armenian) | Յիսուս (Hisus) |
| Azerbaijani | İsa |
| Belarusian (Catholic) | Езус (Yezus) |
| Belarusian (Orthodox) | Ісус (Isus) |
| Bengali | 'ঈসা (’Eesa) |
| Bengali (Christian) | যীশু (Jeeshu/Zeeshu) |
| Breton | Jezuz |
| Catalan | Jesús |
| Chinese (Simplified Chinese) | 耶稣 |
| Chinese (Traditional Chinese) | 耶穌 |
| Chinese (Pinyin) | Yēsū |
| Cornish | Yesu |
| Croatian | Isus |
| Czech | Ježíš |
| Dutch | Jezus |
| Estonian | Jeesus |
| Filipino (Christian and secular) | Jesús |
| Filipino (religious) | Hesús / Hesukristo |
| Fijian | Jisu |
| Finnish | Jeesus |
| French | Jésus |
| Galician | Xesús |
| Garo | Jisu |
| Georgian | იესო (Ieso) |
| Ghanaian | Yesu |
| Greek | Ιησούς (Iisús modern Greek pronunciation) |
| Haitian Creole | Jezi |
| Hausa | Yesu |
| Hawaiian | Jesu |
| Hebrew | Yeshua יֵשׁוּעַ |
| Hindustani | ईसा / عيسى (īsā) |
| Hmong Daw | Yexus |
| Hungarian | Jézus |
| Icelandic | Jesús |
| Igbo | Jisos |
| Indonesia (Christian) | Yesus |
| Indonesia (Islamic) | Isa |
| Irish | Íosa |
| Italian | Gesù |
| Japanese | イエス (Iesu) / ゼス (Zesu) |
| Japanese (Catholic) | イエズス (Iezusu) |
| Japanese (Eastern Orthodox) | イイスス (Iisusu) |
| Japanese (Kirishitan) | ゼズス (Zezusu) |
| Jinghpaw | Yesu |
| Kazakh | Иса (Isa) |
| Khmer | យេស៑ូវ (Yesu) |
| Kisii | Yeso |
| Korean | 예수 (Yesu) |
| Kurdish | Îsa |
| Latvian | Jēzus |
| Ligurian | Gesû |
| Limburgish | Zjezus |
| Lithuanian | Jėzus |
| Lombard | Gesü |
| Luganda | Yesu |
| मराठी-Marathi | येशू (Yeshu) |
| Malagasy | Jeso / Jesoa / Jesosy |
| Malayalam | ഈശോ (Isho) / യേശു (Yeshu) |
| Mirandese | Jasus |
| Maltese | Ġesù |
| Mongolian | Есүс |
| Neapolitan | Giesù |
| Norman | Jésus |
| Occitan | Jèsus |
| Piedmontese | Gesù |
| Polish | Jezus |
| Portuguese | Jesus |
| Romanian | Isus |
| Romanian (Eastern Orthodox) | Iisus |
| Russian | Иисус (Iisus) |
| Sardinian | Gesùs |
| Serbian | Исус (Isus) |
| Sicilian | Gesù |
| Sinhala | ජේසුස් වහන්සේ (Jesus Wahanse) |
| Scottish Gaelic | Ìosa |
| Slovak | Ježiš |
| Slovenian | Jezus |
| Spanish | Jesús |
| Swahili | Yesu |
| Sylheti | 'ঈছা (’Eesa) |
| Sylheti (Christian) | যীশু (Zishu) |
| Tajik | Исо (Iso) |
| Tamil | இயேசு (Yesu) |
| Telugu | Yesu |
| Thai | เยซู (Yesu) |
| Turkish | İsa |
| Turkmen | Isa |
| Ukrainian | Ісус (Isus) |
| Urdu | عیسیٰ |
| Uzbek | Iso |
| Venetian | Jesu |
| Vietnamese | Giêsu / Dêsu |
| Welsh | Iesu |
| Yoruba | Jesu |
| Zulu | uJesu |