Hosanna
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hosanna is a transliterated acclamation rooted in a plea for salvation, commonly heard in the Gospel triumphal-entry scenes as praise surrounding Jesus' arrival. The crowds cry Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest, and Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὡσαννά (G5614) · Open the biblical lexicon
hosanna is a transliterated acclamation rooted in a plea for salvation, commonly heard in the Gospel triumphal-entry scenes as praise surrounding Jesus' arrival. The crowds cry Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest, and Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Hosanna (6).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 21:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), Mark (2), John (1).
Hosanna is a transliterated acclamation rooted in a plea for salvation, commonly heard in the Gospel triumphal-entry scenes as praise surrounding Jesus' arrival. The crowds cry Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest, and Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Mark links the cry with the coming kingdom of David, and John joins it to the King of Israel.
The word should not be treated as a generic worship cheer detached from its scriptural and messianic setting. It carries the movement from Save, we pray, to public praise as Jesus enters Jerusalem. For pastoral teaching, hosanna helps readers hear urgent need, royal hope, and imperfect public acclaim gathered around the Messiah who will save through the cross rather than through crowd-managed expectations.
All direct New Testament uses occur around Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. The acclamation joins plea, praise, Davidic hope, temple controversy, and royal recognition, while the larger Gospel context tests what the crowd understands.
The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
The crowds shout Hosanna to the Son of David and bless the one coming in the Lord's name. The cry carries messianic hope as Jesus enters Jerusalem.
But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
Children continue shouting Hosanna to the Son of David in the temple courts, provoking indignation from chief priests and scribes. The praise exposes resistance among leaders.
The ones who went ahead and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Mark records the crowd's Hosanna alongside the blessing from Psalm-shaped language. The acclamation is public, processional, and scripturally resonant.
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
The crowd blesses the coming kingdom of David and cries Hosanna in the highest. The word is bound to royal expectation, not merely religious excitement.
They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
John joins Hosanna with the title King of Israel as the crowd meets Jesus with palm branches. The scene frames royal welcome while the Gospel continues toward the cross.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Liturgical acclamation originally meaning "save us," transformed into joyful messianic praise in NT usage.
Liturgical acclamation originally meaning "save us," transformed into joyful messianic praise in NT usage.
hosanna: Mat.21:9, Mrk.11:9-10, Jhn.12:13; τ. υἱῷ Δανείδ, Mat.21:9, 15.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
hosanna
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Messianic plea drawn from Psalm 118.
Expresses messianic expectation fulfilled in Christ.
Hebrew roots and equivalents that share conceptual or etymological ground with this Greek word.
Hosanna is powerful because it gathers need and praise into one public cry. The crowds welcome Jesus with words that echo Scripture, Davidic hope, and longing for salvation. Matthew emphasizes the Son of David and then lets children continue the cry in the temple, where leaders become indignant. Mark highlights the coming kingdom of David and Hosanna in the highest.
John names Jesus as King of Israel. Yet none of the Gospels lets the crowd control the meaning of the King. Jesus enters Jerusalem to save, but He will save through rejection, suffering, death, and resurrection. The word therefore helps teachers hold celebration and correction together. The right cry can still need deeper understanding. Hosanna is fitting on the lips of worshipers when it bows before the Savior as He reveals Himself, not merely as the crowd wishes Him to be.
Matt.21.9
Hosanna is transliterated into Greek rather than translated as an ordinary Greek verb. Its Gospel use functions as a set acclamation with roots in a plea for salvation. Because every New Testament occurrence is tied to the entry scenes, interpretation should remain close to those narratives.
The acclamation echoes Psalm 118's plea and blessing language, where salvation, the Lord's name, and the coming one are held together. The Gospels bring that language to Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, where messianic hope meets the path of the cross.
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