Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yonah Mishael" <yonahmishael AT gmail.com>]

On 9/13/06, thebodyofjesusthenazoraion AT juno.com
<thebodyofjesusthenazoraion AT juno.com> wrote:
> I ask about The Name Jesus The Nazoraion It was spoken in Hebrew Form
> Yehshua The Nazor ? is it Owlam. That was my question? I believe the
> word NZR Owlam would be a proper rendering of the last part of The
> Name. In other words Yehshua was a set apart, branch, shoot, root, etc
> for this age or this Owalam? I want to know how to spell Nazor Owlam?
> Is this the proper spelling?
> Eva Ritsema

Eva,

None of us was present when Jesus was alive. We do not know how he was
called where he was growing up. All we have are written accounts of
his life and speculation. The problem is that all of the written
accounts of his life found their way to our generation in the Greek
language. In this language, his name is called Ιησους [Iēsous]. In the
Aramaic language, which is what the Peshitta was composed in (Syriac),
his name is found as ܝܫܘܥ [Yeshua], which is letter-for-letter
identical (yod shin vav ayin) to the Hebrew name ישוע [Yeshua], the
name of the high priest during the time of Zechariah the prophet. I
only assume that this was the original form of the name of Jesus,
since it dates back to the times when the Peshitta was translated, and
it is in Aramaic.

As for Notzri/Netzari/Nazoraios, etc, Ναζωραιος [Nazoraios] is a Greek
word which means "an inhabitant of Nazareth" (Ναζαρετ or Ναζαρεθ). The
name of Nazareth in Hebrew is נָצְרַת [Natzerat]. The Hebrew word for
"Christian" is נוֹצְרִי [notzri], and Jesus is often called (based on
the assumption that he is the same person spoken of in the Talmud) ישו
הנוצרי [Yeshu ha-Notzri] or ישוע הנוצרי [Yeshua ha-Notzri].

The word for a "Nazarite" is completely different from נצר (branch)
and is related to the root נזר, which means "to abstain" or "to
deprive yourself." A נזיר [nazir] is someone who deprives
himself/herself of certain regular physical pleasures for the sake of
extreme holiness. Some say that James the brother of Jesus was a
nazir, but I have never heard anyone say that Jesus was a nazir
(especially given that he was drinking wine in the New Testament), and
more especially not a nazir olam, which is someone who never touched
wine, cut their hair, etc., for the duration of their natural life.
Nazir olam is spelled נזיר עולם, nun zayin yod resh / ayin vav lamed
mem.

Not being a Christian, this is all the information that I can give you
about Jesus' name or life. I don't know much about him personally, but
I hear these discussions a lot. This is what I have to offer. Hope it
helps.

For information on how to download the font "Estrangelo" to view the
Aramaic above, go to http://www.peshitta.org/initial/software.html .

For more information on Aramaic language, go to
http://www.assyrianlanguage.com .

Blessings,
Yonah

--
Yonah Mishael ben Avraham
Joplin, MO
yonahmishael AT gmail.com