The Name the Branch Would Carry
Jeremiah 23:5—6
The Name the Branch Would Carry
A title that honors Yahuah, as cities and altars bore His name
A name that praises Yahuah crowns the Branch with the Father’s glory, not with Godhood.
--- The Standing Stone ---
Behind “LORD” in your Bible lies a hidden name --- in the Hebrew it is Yahuah Psalm 83:18**; Yahuah is the Father** Isaiah 63:16**; Yahuah is the only God, beside Him there is no other** Isaiah 45:5**; therefore Yahuah the Father is the only true God, leaving no room for a second or third person** 1 Corinthians 8:6**.**
Part One
The Trinitarian Claim
1.1 --- The Passage
Jeremiah 23:5—6 is one of the most common Old Testament verses Trinitarians point to when they argue that the Messiah (Christ) is Yahuah (God). Here is the passage:
Jeremiah 23:5—6 (KJV)
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD [Yahuah], that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The key phrase is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” In Hebrew it is Yahuah Tsidkenu. The whole Trinitarian argument depends on what this phrase means.
1.2 --- What Trinitarians Claim
The argument runs like this: the Branch --- the coming Messiah --- is given the name Yahuah. Since Yahuah is the personal name of the Almighty, the Messiah must therefore be Yahuah. The name, they say, proves the Messiah is not merely a human king but Yahuah in the flesh.
Some also reach for the Granville Sharp rule to prop up this reading. But that rule is a Greek grammar observation about certain patterns in the New Testament. It has no power over a Hebrew title in the Old Testament, and it cannot override the plain sense of the text --- especially when Jeremiah 33:16 hands the very same name to the city of Jerusalem.
1.3 --- The Problem Before We Open the Text
The argument has a basic flaw you can spot before looking at a single Hebrew word. It pulls the divine name out of the phrase and pins it on the Branch by itself. That is reading backwards. The whole phrase belongs together: Yahuah Tsidkenu is the name --- the complete phrase. The word tsidkenu, “our righteousness,” tells us what Yahuah does through this king. It does not say the king is Yahuah.
And there is a timing problem. Hebrews 1:1-2 says Yahuah spoke through the prophets in time past, and only “in these last days” spoke through His Son. The Son was not the one speaking in the Old Testament --- the Father was. The Branch in Jeremiah 23 is the one being spoken about, not the one doing the speaking.
Part Two
Verse by Verse
2.1 --- Verse 5: The Branch Is Raised by Yahuah
Jeremiah 23:5 (KJV)
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD [Yahuah], that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
Yahuah the Father is the one speaking, and He says that He will raise up a Branch for David. The relationship is settled in a single line: Yahuah does the raising, and the Branch is raised. The Branch does not raise himself. If the Branch were Yahuah, then Yahuah would be raising Himself up for David --- which makes no sense.
2.2 --- Verse 6a: Judah Saved, Israel Secure
Jeremiah 23:6a (KJV)
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely:
Everything the Branch accomplishes is something Yahuah does through him. Judah is delivered and Israel dwells in safety --- not because the Branch is Yahuah, but because Yahuah’s righteousness works through this Davidic king. It is the same pattern as the rest of the Old Testament. Moses brought Israel out of Egypt, yet Moses was not Yahuah. Joshua led them into the land, yet Joshua was not Yahuah. Judges and kings ruled with authority that came from Yahuah, yet none of them were Yahuah.
2.3 --- Verse 6b: The Name
Jeremiah 23:6b (KJV)
and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Watch the wording: “his name whereby he shall be called.” The text does not say he will be the LORD. It says he will be called by a name. And the name is the full compound phrase:
יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ
Yahuah Tsidkenu
Yahuah is our righteousness --- a compound title that names what Yahuah does, not the identity of the one who carries it.
This is what we call a theophoric name --- a name that carries the divine name while describing what Yahuah does, not who the bearer is. As the rest of this study will show, that pattern runs through the whole Hebrew Bible.
2.4 --- Jeremiah’s Wordplay on Zedekiah
Jeremiah is doing more than handing out a title; he is drawing a sharp contrast. The last kings of Judah carried names built on the idea of righteousness. Zedekiah means “Yahuah is my righteousness.” Yet the whole setting of Jeremiah 23 is an indictment of these rulers for being unrighteous. They failed. So when Yahuah promises a future Branch who will be called “The LORD our Righteousness,” the point is a reversal: the present kings wear righteousness in their names but never deliver it; the coming king will actually bring it --- because the righteousness flows from Yahuah through him.
2.5 --- The Hebrew Wording Points to a Title, Not an Identity
In English, “he shall be called” can sound like a flat equation, as if being called something means you literally are that thing. Hebrew name-clauses do not work that way. They commonly describe a title given to someone --- a name that announces what Yahuah’s work through that person will be. It is what the community declares about Yahuah’s faithfulness, not a label that changes the person’s nature.
We know this because Jeremiah uses the very same clause for a city. Ten chapters later he writes that Jerusalem “shall be called The LORD our Righteousness.” No one imagines Jerusalem becomes Yahuah. The name simply means: here is where Yahuah’s righteousness is on display. The same is true of the Branch.
Part Three
The Theophoric Name Pattern
3.1 --- What Is a Theophoric Name?
A theophoric name carries a reference to a deity but describes what that deity does --- never the identity of the person who bears it. Hebrew is full of them. Isaiah (Yeshayahu) means “the deliverance of Yah” --- yet Isaiah is not deliverance. Elijah (Eliyahu) means “My God is Yah” --- yet Elijah is not Yahuah. Zechariah means “Yahuah remembers” --- yet Zechariah is not the act of remembering. Nehemiah means “Yahuah comforts.” Daniel means “My judge is God.” Immanuel means “God is with us.” Every time, the name speaks about Yahuah while resting on a human person.
3.2 --- Places, Altars, and Objects Called Yahuah
The pattern reaches past people. Abraham named the mountain where Isaac was spared Yahuah Yireh, “Yahuah will provide” (Genesis 22:14). No one says the mountain is Yahuah. Moses built an altar and called it Yahuah Nissi, “Yahuah is my banner” (Exodus 17:15). No one says the altar is Yahuah. Gideon built an altar and called it Yahuah Shalom, “Yahuah is peace” (Judges 6:24). No one says the altar is Yahuah. Ezekiel says the future city will be called Yahuah Shammah, “Yahuah is there” (Ezekiel 48:35). No one says the city is Yahuah.
Every compound name that carries Yahuah tells us something about what Yahuah does in connection with the person, place, or thing. It never turns the bearer into Yahuah. To claim it works differently in Jeremiah 23:6 is to invent a rule that every other example in Scripture breaks.
3.3 --- Jeremiah 33:16: The Parallel That Ends the Argument
This is the single strongest piece of evidence, and it comes from the same book, only ten chapters later:
Jeremiah 33:16 (KJV)
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
The exact same name --- Yahuah Tsidkenu --- is given to Jerusalem. Sit with that. If the Trinitarian logic held --- that carrying this name makes you Yahuah --- then Jerusalem is Yahuah too. That is absurd. The name describes what Yahuah does through the thing that carries it. Yahuah works His righteousness through the Davidic king, and Yahuah works His righteousness through Jerusalem. Neither the king nor the city is Yahuah.
Even the Ellicott commentary --- written by Trinitarian scholars --- concedes the point, noting that in Jeremiah 33:16 the same name is given to Jerusalem, where it is plainly not a claim about the city’s nature but a watchword she takes up. If the name does not make Jerusalem into Yahuah, it does not make the Branch into Yahuah either. That one verse alone collapses the argument.
3.4 --- A Plain Analogy
Here is a simple way to hold it. If a hospital is named “God’s Healing Hand,” no one says the hospital is God; the name describes what God does through it. If a charity is called “The Lord’s Mercy,” no one says the charity is the Lord; the name says the Lord’s mercy operates through it. “The LORD our Righteousness” works the same way --- it tells us Yahuah’s righteousness flows through the king who carries the title.
3.5 --- Royal “Righteousness” Names
Scripture regularly ties “righteousness” language to kings and rulers. Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.” Adonizedek means “lord of righteousness.” Zedekiah means “Yahuah is my righteousness.” None of these names turn the ruler into Yahuah; they mark his connection to a righteousness that is not his own. Jeremiah is doing the same thing: Judah’s sitting kings failed to deliver righteousness, but the coming Branch will succeed --- because the righteousness he brings belongs to Yahuah and is supplied through his reign.
Part Four
The New Testament Witness
4.1 --- The Righteousness of Yahuah Through the Messiah
If the name Yahuah Tsidkenu means that Yahuah is the source of righteousness and the Branch is the one who delivers it, the New Testament should say the same thing. It does --- again and again.
1 Corinthians 1:30 (KJV)
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
Paul says Yahuah made the Messiah “unto us righteousness.” The righteousness comes from Yahuah; Yahushua (Jesus) is the one who carries it to us. Paul does not say the Messiah is Yahuah --- he says Yahuah used the Messiah to bring us righteousness. That is exactly what the name in Jeremiah 23:6 means.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV)
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
We become “the righteousness of God in him.” The righteousness belongs to Yahuah; the Messiah is the way we receive it. The two stay distinct: Yahuah is the source, the Messiah the channel.
Romans 3:21—22 (KJV)
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.
The righteousness belongs to Yahuah, and it reaches us through trust in Yahushua the Messiah. Yahuah owns the righteousness; the Messiah delivers it --- the same idea Jeremiah packed into one Old Testament name.
Philippians 3:9 (KJV)
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
Paul says it plainly: the righteousness is “of God.” It comes through the Messiah, but it belongs to Yahuah. Every passage tells the same story --- Yahuah is the source, the Messiah is the agent. That is what a theophoric name means, and it is not a claim that the Messiah is Yahuah.
4.2 --- The Consistent Pattern of Agency
Hebrews 1:1-2 says Yahuah spoke through the prophets in time past and through His Son in these last days. The Son did not do the speaking in the Old Testament --- the Father did. The Son is the appointed heir through whom Yahuah now speaks and acts. It is the same relationship as Jeremiah 23: Yahuah raises a Branch, and through that Branch Yahuah’s righteousness is established. The Branch carries Yahuah’s authority, wears a name that honors Yahuah, and delivers Yahuah’s righteousness to the people --- all without being Yahuah.
Part Five
Summary
5.1 --- What the Text Actually Says
Jeremiah 23:5—6 is a promise from Yahuah to raise up a righteous Davidic king who will bring justice, deliverance, and safety to the people. He carries the title “The LORD our Righteousness” --- a name announcing that Yahuah is the source of righteousness, not a name that turns the king into Yahuah. We know this because Jeremiah 33:16 gives the identical name to Jerusalem, and no one claims a city is Yahuah. Every theophoric name in the Old Testament --- Yahuah Yireh, Yahuah Nissi, Yahuah Shalom, Yahuah Shammah, Immanuel --- works the same way: it describes what Yahuah does, not the identity of the bearer.
Jeremiah’s own wordplay seals it. “The LORD our Righteousness” stands in direct contrast to Zedekiah and the failed kings whose names claimed righteousness while their reigns delivered the opposite. And the New Testament confirms the reading: Yahuah’s righteousness comes through the Messiah (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:21-22; Philippians 3:9), but the Messiah is always the agent, never the source.
Deuteronomy 6:4 (KJV)
Hear, O Israel: The LORD [Yahuah] our God is one LORD [Yahuah].
Conclusion
The Verdict
The Branch is not Yahuah. He is the king Yahuah promised to raise up for David --- the one through whom Yahuah’s righteousness is set on the earth. His name tells us about Yahuah, not about his own nature. Mountains, altars, cities, prophets, and kings all wear names that carry Yahuah without being Yahuah. The Messiah is no exception.
Yahuah is one. He has always been one. The Messiah is His appointed king --- never a second Yahuah.
If the name “The LORD our Righteousness” makes the Branch into Yahuah, then Jerusalem is Yahuah too --- because Jeremiah 33:16 gives her the exact same name.