“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 12:2-3
In my studies I came across a comment by Henry Morris in my Henry Morris Study Bible,[1] that stated, that the Hebrew word for “salvation” was Yeshua or Jesus.[2] I was intrigued, so I did a little more research. The Hebrew word used for the English word salvation in Isaiah is the word yeshuah, according to Strong’s concordance,[3] which is very similar to the name Yeshua. Yeshuah is the feminine passive verb version of the Hebrew word yasha. Yeshuah means salvation.
The name Yeshua is the masculine noun that can be rendered in English as Joshua or Jesus. The name Jesus came from the Greek translation of the name Joshua that was then translated into English, giving us the name Jesus. Either way the name means salvation or “God is my salvation” or “Yahweh is my salvation” The first phrase of our verses above could also be rendered, Behold, YHWH (Yahweh) is my yeshuah. So, if you take Dr. Morris’ thought process to the final conclusion, you could render Isaiah 12:2-3 in English as follows.
Behold, Jesus! I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become Jesus. Therefore, with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of Jesus.
Look upon Jesus with excitement, because He is our salvation! God Himself became Jesus, so with joy, draw from the well of living water (the Holy Spirit) that is provided by Jesus. I think that is amazing and wonderful. I am also fascinated by the Prophet Isaiah. He received so many inspirations from God and most of them have come true already, and the rest will come true in the near future. Prophetically Isaiah mentions Jesus, virtually by name, more than 700 years before Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. God is breathtaking and awe inspiring!
Trust the Bible, because it is the truth. Jesus is the God of our salvation! He died for us and then rose again on the third day, so that through Him we can have eternal life.
If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please make that decision today!
References
[1] Henry Morris, Henry Morris Study Bible (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2016)
[2] Morris, Henry Morris Study Bible. 1023
[3] Bible Hub, "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: Hebrew 3444. יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah) -- Salvation," Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages, accessed March 31, 2018, http://biblehub.com/strongs/hebrew/3444.htm.