Save
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words [1]
A. Verb.
Yâsha‛ ( יָשַׁע , 3467), “to help, deliver, save.” Outside Hebrew this word is attested only in Moabite. It appears in all periods of Hebrew (including post-biblical Hebrew) and in biblical Hebrew about 205 times. The verb occurs only in the causative and passive stems.
Essentially the word means “to remove or seek to remove someone from a burden, oppression, or danger.” In Exod. 2:17 (the first appearance of this verb) yâsha‛ signifies to remove someone from a burden or job: “… Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.” The word is frequently used of removing or seeking to remove someone from the danger of defeat: “And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua … saying, slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us …” (Josh. 10:6). This is a request to preserve them from possible death. The real danger is not yet upon them but soon will be. The Gibeonites see in Israel their only help.
Yâsha‛ is used in other situations as when Jephthah tells the Ephraimites that they had been summoned to the war at a crucial time but did not respond and “delivered me not out of their [children of Ammon] hands” (Judg. 12:2). Here the emphasis is “set free,” or “liberate,” in other words, to remove someone from a condition already upon him. Militarily the word can also be used of “helping,” emphasizing the union of forces so as to forge a single and stronger fighting unit. This is no last-ditch stand for the unit being helped. So Joab told Abishai: “If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me …” (2 Sam. 10:11). Also, compare: “So the Syrians feared to help [to serve as an ally of] the children of Ammon any more” (2 Sam. 10:19).
In the realm of justice and civil law yâsha‛ represents an obligation on the part of anyone who hears an outcry of one being mistreated: “For he [the rapist] found her [the one he was about to rape] in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her” (Deut. 22:27; cf. 28:29). Therefore, one may appeal especially to the king as the one obligated to help maintain one’s rights: “And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king” (2 Sam. 14:4; cf. 2 Kings 6:26). The king also “delivered” his people from subjection to their enemies (1 Sam. 10:27; Hos. 13:10). Jeremiah says of the messianic king: “In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely …” (23:6). Here yâsha‛ is paralleled by “dwell safely,” a phrase which identifies the meaning of yâsha‛ as “to be preserved from danger.” Ultimately, God is the Great King who “goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you [deliver you from danger]” (Deut. 20:4), and the Judge of all Israel.
The word appears in many prayer petitions: “Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God …” (Ps. 3:7). This is a combination, therefore, of military emphasis (a prayer for deliverance from some enemy by forceful interference) and judicial emphasis (a prayer for that which is the petitioner’s due and the obligation of the one petitioned—in God’s case the obligation is selfimposed through the establishment of the covenantal relationship; cf. Ps. 20:9). In other instances the judicial obligation is in view: “He [the Lord’s anointed king] shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor” (Ps. 72:4). In this passage the word in synonymous parallelism to yâsha‛ is shapat , “to see that legal justice is executed.” Very often the psalmist has in view the spiritual aspect of God’s eternal covenant. This is clear in passages such as Ps. 86, where David confesses that, although the ruler of Israel, he is humbled (godly), and that, although enjoying kingly wealth, he is needy (trusting in God). On the basis of these spiritual conditions he prays for God’s covenantal response: “Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee” (Ps. 86:2). The blessings sought here are both eternal (Ps. 86:11-13) and temporal (Ps. 86:14-17).
B. Nouns.
Yeshû‛âh ( יְשׁוּעָה , Strong'S #3444), “salvation.” This word appears about 78 times and refers primarily to God’s acts of help which have already occurred and been experienced. In Gen. 49:18 (the first biblical occurrence), the word includes the idea of “salvation” through divinely appointed means and from inequity. In 1 Sam. 14:45 yeshû‛âh is used of a human act: “And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel?” The word is used infrequently of deliverance and/or help effected by things (Isa. 12:3).
The noun teshû‛âh also means “salvation.” It occurs about 34 times. The word is frequently joined with responses of thanksgiving and rejoicing (Judg. 15:18—the first occurrence; 1 Sam. 11:13). Teshû‛âh , therefore, is sometimes rendered “deliverance” (Judg. 15:18), “victory” (2 Sam. 19:2), as well as “salvation” (Isa. 45:17). The idea of “salvation” is that of preservation from threatened, impending, and perhaps deserved danger and suffering. Yeshû‛âh is used in a few instances of a human act: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Prov. 11:14).
The noun yesha’ which occurs 36 times, signifies that which God will do in man’s behalf (2 Sam. 22:3), or that which has been done by Him for man (2 Sam. 22:36). In two instances this word means simply the general absence of oppression and need (Job 5:4, 11).
The word may be translated as “salvation” or “safety.” The noun mosha’ot occurs only once to mean “saving acts” (Ps. 68:20).
King James Dictionary [2]
Save, L salvo. As salve is used in Latin for salutation or wishing health, as hail is in English, I suspect this word to be from the root of heal or hail, the first letter being changed. Gr. See Salt.
1. To preserve from injury, destruction or evil of any kind to rescue from danger as, to save a house from the flames to save a man from drowning to save a family from ruin to save a state from war.
He cried, saying Lord, save me. Matthew 14 . Genesis 45 .
2. To preserve from final and everlasting destruction to rescue from eternal death.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1 .
3. To deliver to rescue from the power and pollution of sin.
He shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1 .
4. To hinder from being spent or lost as, to save the expense of a new garment. Order in all affairs saves time. 5. To prevent. method in affairs saves much perplexity. 6. To reserve or lay by for preservation.
Now save a nation, and now save a groat.
7. To spare to prevent to hinder from occurrence.
Will you not speak to save a lady's blush?
Silent and unobserv'd, to save his tears.
8. To salve as, to save appearances. 9. To take or use opportunely, so as not to lose. The ship sailed in time to save the tide. 10. To except to reserve from a general admission or account.
Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only. Joshua 11 .
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one. 2 Corinthians 11 .
Save is here a verb followed by an object. It is the imperative used without a specific nominative but it is now less frequently used than except.
SAVE, To hinder expense.
Brass ordinance saveth in the quantity of the material.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): ( n.) The herb sage, or salvia.
(2): ( a.) To make safe; to procure the safety of; to preserve from injury, destruction, or evil of any kind; to rescue from impending danger; as, to save a house from the flames.
(3): ( a.) Specifically, to deliver from sin and its penalty; to rescue from a state of condemnation and spiritual death, and bring into a state of spiritual life.
(4): ( a.) To keep from being spent or lost; to secure from waste or expenditure; to lay up; to reserve.
(5): ( a.) To rescue from something undesirable or hurtful; to prevent from doing something; to spare.
(6): ( a.) To hinder from doing, suffering, or happening; to obviate the necessity of; to prevent; to spare.
(7): ( a.) To hold possession or use of; to escape loss of.
(8): ( v. i.) To avoid unnecessary expense or expenditure; to prevent waste; to be economical.
(9): ( a.) Except; excepting; not including; leaving out; deducting; reserving; saving.
(10): ( conj.) Except; unless.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
sāv : In the sense "except," the word came into English through the French ( sauf ) and is fairly common (38 times, in addition to "saving," the King James Version Ecclesiastes 5:11; Amos 9:8; Matthew 5:32; Luke 4:27; Revelation 2:17 ). It represents no particular Hebrew or Greek terms but is employed wherever it seems useful. It is still in good (slightly archaic) use, and the Revised Version (British and American) has few modifications ( Deuteronomy 15:4 the King James Version; Psalm 18:31 , etc.), but the English Revised Version has dropped "saving" in Luke 4:27 and Revelation 2:17 and the American Standard Revised Version also in Ecclesiastes 5:11; Amos 9:8 , retaining it only in Matthew 5:32 .
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [5]
A tributary of the Danube, rises in the Julian Alps and flows SE. across Southern Austria till it joins the Danube at Belgrade after a course of 556 m., of which 366 are navigable.
