What does hosanna mean?

Q: What does hosanna mean?

Hosanna comes from the Hebrew 'hoshia na' — 'Save now, we pray' (Psalm 118:25). By Palm Sunday it had become both a cry for salvation and a shout of praise to the One who saves.

Hosanna is the Greek spelling of a Hebrew plea: hoshia na — "save now, we beseech thee," built on the verb yasha (H3467), "to save." It comes directly from the Hallel psalms sung at the feasts:

“Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.”Psalms 118:25 (KJV)

The very next verse of that psalm is the one the crowds quoted as Jesus rode into Jerusalem — they were singing Psalm 118 at Him, and everyone knew it:

“And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”Matthew 21:9 (KJV)

So "hosanna" holds a plea and a praise in one breath: Save us now — and blessed is the Saviour who comes. The same root yasha is buried inside the name Jesus itself (Yehoshua, "YHWH is salvation"), which makes the Palm Sunday cry almost a pun: crying "Save now!" to the man named Salvation.

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What does hosanna mean?

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