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Discover the meanings of thousands of Biblical names in Abarim Publications' Biblical Name Vault: Josiphiah

Josiphiah meaning

Josiphiah in Biblical Hebrew
יוספיה
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Source: https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Josiphiah.html

🔼The name Josiphiah: Summary

Meaning
Yah Will Increase, Yah Adds
Etymology
From (1) the verb יסף (yasap), to add, increase, or repeat, and (2) יה (yah), the shortened name of the Lord.
Related names
• Via יסף (yasap): Eliasaph, Jose, Joseph, Joses, Vophsi
• Via יה (yah): See the 'browse by form' menu for a long list of yah-names.

🔼The name Josiphiah in the Bible

The name Josiphiah occurs only once in the Bible, but it's not clear how he fits in (Ezra 8:10). Ezra mentions him among the returnees from the Babylonian exile, but that whole paragraph consists of statements of the formula:

Of the sons of This Guy: That Guy — the son of Another Guy — and So Many of his relatives.

In the case of Josiphiah, however, the name of That Guy appears to be omitted. It seems therefore that Josiphiah is the father of an unnamed man who returned with the rest of the descendants of Shelomith.

🔼Etymology of the name Josiphiah

The name Josiphiah consists of two elements, the final one being יה (Yah), which is an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, YHWH, or Yahweh.

The first part of our name comes from the verb יסף (yasap) meaning to add, increase, or repeat:

Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
יסף

The verb יסף (yasap) means to add, increase or do again. It curiously has no [extant] derivatives.

— See the full Dictionary article —

🔼Josiphiah meaning

For a meaning of the name Josiphiah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Will Increase. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Added Of The Lord. And BDB Theological Dictionary: proposes Yah Adds.