TO SAVE, deliver, bring into a wide open place (the opposite of tsar, 'narrow, hemmed in'). It is the root behind HOSEA's own name (Hoshea, 'he saves'), and behind Joshua, Isaiah and Jesus. ⚠ Hosea 1:7 turns it into a quiet pun: the prophet named Salvation announces 'I will SAVE them by Jehovah their God — and not by bow or sword or war.' The verb is the standard one for God rescuing his people; Hosea's point is about the instrument. → first discussed at Hosea 1:7