“Hosanna”
Matthew 21:9
Foreign wordSettledThe crowds
Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matthew 21:9 BSB)
* Hebrew: hoshia-na, 'save now,' a cry for rescue (Psalm 118:25), not mere applause.
What it sounds like today
A shout of pure praise, like 'hallelujah.'
The cultural key
Hebrew hoshia-na means 'Save, please!', a cry for rescue, not applause. It comes from Psalm 118:25–26 ('Save us, we pray, O LORD… Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD'), part of the Hallel psalms every pilgrim sang at the festivals, waving branches as they came. By Jesus' day the plea had shaded into acclamation, but the petition still sounds inside it, and pairing it with 'Son of David' makes it politically explosive.
Recovered meaning
'Save us now, Son of David!': a crowd applying the festival's liturgy of rescue to a specific man riding a king's mount. The authorities heard the claim precisely, which is why they demanded he silence it.
Parallels: Psalm 118:25–26; Mark 11:9–10; John 12:13