What Does Hosanna Mean? Hosanna in the Hebrew Psalms and the Gospels

I love digging into the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible. Words carry history, and when we understand what they meant to the people who first heard them, Scripture opens up in new dimensions that are often lost in translation. Hosanna is a perfect example: a word we sing on Palm Sunday that started as a desperate prayer.

Hosanna means "save, please" or "save us now." It comes from the Hebrew hoshia na in Psalm 118, a psalm pilgrims sang going up to the temple. It began as a cry for rescue. By the time Jesus rode into Jerusalem, it had become a shout of praise.

Hosanna in the Hebrew Bible

Psalm 118 is the last of the Hallel psalms, the songs of praise sung at Israel's great feasts. Near its end, the worshipers cry out to God and bless the one He sends:

Save us now, we beg you, Yahweh! Yahweh, we beg you, send prosperity now. Blessed is he who comes in Yahweh’s name! We have blessed you out of Yahweh’s house.

Psalm 118:25-26, World English Bible

"Save us now" is hoshia na. It is an urgent, humble prayer. It is the cry of people who know they cannot save themselves. The same psalm says, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (Psalm 118:22), words Jesus later applied to Himself.

Hosanna in the Greek New Testament

The Gospel writers kept the word in its Hebrew form, written in Greek letters as hōsanna. It appears six times, all around one moment: Jesus riding into Jerusalem the week of His death.

The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Matthew 21:9, World English Bible

The crowds were quoting Psalm 118 word for word. They were saying: this is the One the psalm was about. John adds that they took palm branches and called Him "the King of Israel" (John 12:13).

"Hosanna in the highest" means, in effect, "let the highest heaven shout salvation." It is a cry for rescue that has turned into celebration, because the One who saves has arrived.

Even the children joined in. In the temple, kids kept shouting "Hosanna to the son of David!" The religious leaders were indignant, but Jesus defended them: "Did you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?'" (Matthew 21:15-16).

What Hosanna Means for You

When we sing hosanna, we are doing both things at once: asking Jesus to save, and celebrating that He does. It is a good prayer for any day. Bring Him the thing you cannot fix and say, "Hosanna, Lord, save us now." Then thank Him, because He is the King who came to do exactly that.

Go deeper. Hosanna is one of 9 Hebrew Words in the Bible and What They Mean. Read the companion posts on amen, hallelujah and selah, or read How to Be Saved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain).