Why does KJV use 'Jesus' instead of 'Joshua' in Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8?
Why did the translators choose to use Jesus' name? The context refers to Joshua.
Hebrews 4:8
ESV - 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
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Asked November 27 2013
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Ron Godinez
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Colin Wong
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The context of this scripture refers to Joshua. The NKJV, NIV, NASB, RSV, ESV, NLT and others translate it to "Joshua". The KJV (and perhaps other older translations) keep it as "Jesus". This inconsistency lies in the fact that the name "Joshua" in Hebrew is the same name as "Jesus" in Greek. It's like "John" in English is "Juan" in Spanish or "Ioannes" in Latin, or "Iōánnēs" in Greek, which is also "Yôḥanan" in Hebrew, which means "Graced by Yahweh". Joshua -> Hebrew -> Yahowshuwa (Strongs 3091) Jesus -> Greek -> Iesous (Strongs 2424) When the KJV translators interpreted the New Testament manuscripts (written in Greek), they saw "Iesous", and translated it to Jesus instead of Joshua, even though the context was referring to a different person (but of the same name). In modern translations, we use "Joshua" in the Old Testament in keeping with the Hebrew tradition, and "Jesus" in the New Testament in keeping with the Greek tradition.
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