And he is saying, “Your name is not being called ‘Heel Chaser’ going around, for if El-[a mighty one]-is-Straight then you have striven with mighty ones and with mortal men, and you are able.`
Genesis 32:28 RBT
The Hebrew name “Yisrael,” Strong’s #3478, is traditionally thought to be derived from the roots שׂרה (sarah) and אֵל (El), meaning “God Strives.” However, its exact meaning has been debated for centuries. The word עוֹד (od) in this verse properly means “a going around” (cf. Strongs #5750) and was apparently never taken into consideration for the meaning. Instead, שרית (sharit), meaning “you have contended/striven,” was the focus for interpretation. The difference in meaning arises from the pointing of the letter ש which can be either “sin” or “shin” and the fact that יִשְׂרָ (yisra) is not from the root שרה (sarah) meaning “to persevere, contend.” Although the two roots may look similar, they are only identical in the case of two letters. The Masoretes responsible for adding the points in the 7-10th centuries AD, put יִשְׂרָ (yisra) instead of יָשָׁר (yashar) reflecting the traditional pronunciation. It shouldn’t be a surprise that proper pronunciations become lost through centuries of tradition as this is exactly what they did with YHWH (Yahweh).
The proper root for “Yisrael” would be ישר (yashar), as seen in Strong’s #3477. This root means “to be straight, smooth, easy.” Therefore, the proper name ישראל would be pronounced “Yishrael.” In the Greek New Testament, Ἰσραήλ “Israel” is just as irrelevant to the proper pronunciation as the Greek form “Jesus” is to the Hebrew “Yeshuah.”