Jah

{{main|Yahweh}}

The name of the national god of the kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah is written in the Hebrew Bible as יהוה (YHWH), which modern scholars often render as Yahweh.{{sfn|Miller|Hayes|1986|p=110}} The short form Jah/Yah, appears in Exodus 15:2 and 17:16, Psalm 89:9, (arguably, by emendation){{citation needed|date=November 2024}} Song of Songs 8:6,Clifford Hubert Durousseau, "[http://jbq.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/421/JBQ_421_4_Yah.pdf Yah: A Name of God]" in Jewish Bible Quarterly, vol. 42:1 (January − March 2014) as well as in the phrase Hallelujah. The name of Yahweh is also incorporated into several theophoric names, however, in almost all cases the Hebrew name itself uses -yāhū, not -yāh. This does not preclude the translation of several -yāhū names without the added ū, such as Elijah (ʾĒlīyyāhū) or Hezekiah (H̱īzəqīyyahū), or the existence of several Hebrew names which do use the -yāh form, such as Jedidjah, Malchijah, and Adonijah.

Yah occurs 50 times:G. Lisowsky, Konkordanz zum hebräischen Alten Testament, Stuttgart 1958, p. 1612. Basic information about the form Jāh, see L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, J.J. Stamm, Wielki słownik hebrajsko-polski i aramejsko-polski Starego Testamentu (Great Dictionary of the Hebrew-Aramaic-Polish and Polish Old Testament), Warszawa 2008, vol 1, p. 327, code No. 3514. 43 times in the Psalms, in Exodus 15:2; 17:16; and Isaiah 12:2; 26:4, as well as twice in Isaiah 38:11.

At Revelation 19:1-6, Jah is embedded in the phrase "hallelujah" (Tiberian halləlûyāh), a Hebrew expression that literally means "Praise Jah". The short form "IA" (Yah or Jah (יה)) in the phrase hallelouia (Ἁλληλουιά) is transcribed by the Greek ia.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Jewish Enciclopedia|title=Tetragrammaton|author= Crawford Howell Toy, Ludwig Blau|year=1906|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14346-tetragrammaton}}

In the King James Version of the Christian Bible, the Hebrew יהּ[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=165&letter=T#630 Abbreviated Tetragrammaton] in the Jewish Encyclopedia. is transliterated as "JAH" (capitalised) in only one instance: "Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him".{{bibleverse||Psalm|68:4|KJV}} An American Translation renders the Hebrew word as "Yah" in this verse. In the 1885 Revised Version and its annotated study edition, The Modern Reader's Bible, which uses the Revised Version as its base text, also transliterates "JAH" in Psalms 89:8 which reads, "O LORD God of hosts, who is a mighty one, like unto thee, O JAH? and thy faithfulness is round about thee".

With the rise of the Reformation, reconstructions of the Tetragrammaton became popular. The Tyndale Bible was the first English translation to use the anglicized reconstruction. The modern letter "J" settled on its current English pronunciation only around 500 years ago; in Ancient Hebrew, the first consonant of the Tetragrammaton always represents a "Y" sound.

Rotherham's Emphasised Bible includes 49 uses of Jah. In the Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition Bible, the Jerusalem Bible, and the New Jerusalem Bible (prior to 1998) the name "YHWH" and its abbreviated form "Yah" is found. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, used primarily by Jehovah's Witnesses, employs "Jah" in the Hebrew Scriptures, and translates Hallelujah as "Praise Jah" in the Greek Scriptures. The Divine Name King James Bible employs "JAH" in 50 instances within the Old Testament according to the Divine Name Concordance of the Divine Name King James Bible, Second Edition.

The Spanish language Reina Valera Bible employs "JAH" in 21 instances within the Old Testament according to the Nueva Concordancia Strong Exhaustiva. The Darby Bible, Young's Literal Translation, The Jubilee Bible 2000, Lexham English Bible, The Complete Jewish Bible, Names of God Bible, The Recovery Version, Green's Literal Translation, the New Jewish Publication Society or NJPS Tanakh and World English Bible includes "Jah" (Yah in the Lexham English Bible, Complete Jewish Bible, the NJPS Tanakh and the World English Bible) numerous times within the Old Testament (as well as in the New Testament or New Covenant as is the case in Christian and Messianic Jewish Bibles) as "Hallelujah!" or "Alleluia!" (Praise Jah or Yah in either instance) which is also employed throughout the Old Testament of these Bible versions.

"Hallelujah!" or "Alleluia!" is also used in other Bible versions such as the Divine Name King James Bible, American Standard Version, the Recovery Version, The Tree of Life Version, Amplified Bible, God's Word Translation, Holman Christian Standard Bible, International Standard Version, The Message, New American Bible Revised Edition, The Jerusalem Bible, The New Jerusalem Bible, NJPS Tanakh, The first JPS translation, The Living Bible, The Bible in Living English, Young's Literal Translation, King James Version, The Spanish language Reina Valera and even in Bible versions that otherwise do not generally use the Divine Name such as the New King James Version, English Standard Version, J.B. Phillips New Testament, New International Version, Douay-Rheims Version, God's Word Translation, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, The Jubilee Bible 2000, New American Standard Bible, New Century Version, New International Reader's Version and several other versions, translations and/or editions in English and other languages varying from once to numerous times depending on the Bible version especially and most notably in Revelation Chapter 19 in Christian and Messianic Jewish Bibles.

{{See|Rastafari#Jah and Jesus Christ}}

Rastafari use the name Jah as a term for the Lord God or Haile Selassie, who some Rastafari regard as the incarnation of the God of the Old Testament or as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, who is also known by the Ethiopian title Janhoy.Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, William David Spencer, Adrian Anthony McFarlane (1998).Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader. p. 333.

• Theophory in the Bible

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• {{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=James M. |last2=Hayes |first2=John H. |title=A History of Ancient Israel and Judah |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1986 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDijjc_D5P0C&pg=PA110 |isbn=978-0-664-21262-9}}

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{{Names of God}}

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Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible

Category:Tetragrammaton

Category:Rastafari

Category:Creator gods