Acts 26:11 “forced them to curse the Name of Yeshua“, another translation says, “And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities“

Here Paul is making a confession, that is very well known in Jewish circles today – they use and misspelled the name of Yeshua in order to curse! See what Yeshua said in Matthew 10:22, “You will be hated by everyone because of my name, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Because of Yeshua’s name! What the people did back then, is to rather say Yeshua’s name as “Yeshu”, which is an acronym for a Hebrew curse, “yimach shemo vezikro”, meaning “May his name and memory be blotted out”. This name was created as a way to disrespect Yeshua by associating his name with a curse. The name “yeshu” is considered a derogatory version of his true Hebrew name, “Yeshua,” which means “YHWH saves”. Till today in some circles, people refuse to use the name Yeshua, as they say it is too close to a curse… “we will be hated because of His Name..”

It seems like bullying, intimidating, insulting, mocking, harrassing, threatening and name calling is not a new thing.. We even mentioned back in Acts 11 about the word “Christians“, which was initially an insulting name. It was pronounced as “Chrestians,” a pun meaning “the goody-goody bunch”. We read in 1 Peter 4:16 Peter writes, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify Adonai in that name“.

Click here for previous posts on the true name of Yeshua (Yehoshua).