Editing Jah

{{Short description|Short form for name of Abrahamic God}}
{{Redirect|JAH}}
'''Jah''' or '''Yah''' ({{langx|he|{{Script/Hebrew|יָהּ}}}}, ''Yāh'') is a short form of the [[Tetragrammaton]] {{lang|he|יהוה}} (YHWH), [[Names of God in Judaism|the personal name of God]]: [[Yahweh]], which the ancient [[Israelites]] used. The conventional [[Christian]] English pronunciation of ''Jah'' is {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|ɑː}}, even though the letter [[J]] here transliterates the [[palatal approximant]] ([[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] י ''[[yodh]]''). The spelling ''Yah'' is designed to make the pronunciation {{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|ɑː}} explicit in an English-language context (see also [[romanization of Hebrew]]), especially for Christians who may not use Hebrew regularly during prayer and study.

This short form of the name occurs 50 times in the text of the [[Hebrew Bible]], of which 24 form part of the phrase "[[Hallelujah]]", a phrase that continues to be employed by [[Jews]] and Christians to give praise to Yahweh.<ref name="Loewen2020">{{cite book |last1=Loewen |first1=Jacob A. |title=The Bible in Cross Cultural Perspective |date=1 June 2020 |publisher=William Carey Publishing |isbn=978-1-64508-304-7 |page=182 |language=English|quote=Shorter forms of Yahweh: The name Yahweh also appears in a shortened form, transliterated Jah (pronounced Yah) in the Revised Version and the American Standard Version, either in the text or footnote: "my song is Jah" (Ex 15:2); "by Jah, his name" (Ps 68:4); "I shall not see Jah in Jah's land (Is 38:11). It is common also in such often untranslated compounds as hallelujah 'praise Jah' (Ps 135:3; 146:10, 148:14), and in proper names like Elijah, 'my God is Jah,' Adonijah, 'my Lord is Jah,' Isaiah, 'Jah has saved.' |edition=Revised }}</ref><ref name="Webber2006">{{cite book |last1=Webber |first1=Christopher L. |title=A User's Guide to the Book of Common Prayer: Morning and Evening Prayer |date=November 2006 |publisher=Church Publishing |isbn=978-0-8192-2197-1 |page=84 |language=en}}</ref> In the 1611 [[King James Version]] of the [[Christian Bible]] there is a single instance of ''JAH''  (capitalized), in [[Psalm 68]]:4. ''[[An American Translation]]'' (1939) and the [[New King James Version]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 68:4 - New King James Version|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2068%3A4&version=NKJV|access-date=2021-02-16|website=Bible Gateway|language=en}}</ref> (NKJV), published in 1982, follows the KJV in using ''Yah'' in this verse.

While pronouncing the Tetragrammaton is forbidden for Jews, articulating ''Yah'' (which is used more frequently in the Jewish context than ''Jah'' is) is allowed but is usually confined to prayer and study.<ref name="e748">{{cite web | title=YHWH: The God that Is vs. the God that Becomes | website=TheTorah.com | date=26 March 2025 | url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/yhwh-the-god-that-is-vs-the-god-that-becomes | access-date=30 March 2025}}</ref><ref name="v414">{{cite web | title= | url=https://jbqnew.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/421/JBQ_421_4_Yah.pdf | access-date=30 March 2025}}</ref>

The name ''Jah'' is frequently employed by adherents of [[Rastafari]] to refer to God.<ref name="Ainouche2021">{{cite book |last1=Ainouche |first1=Linda |title=Monty Howell. Milestones of Life among Rastafari |date=6 December 2021 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-50310-6 |page=14 |language=en|quote=Rastas commonly use the word Jah to mean God, which is a shortened name form of Jehovah – Yahweh, the name of God originated in the ancient Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament.}}</ref>

==Etymology==
{{main|Yahweh}}
The name of the [[national god]] of the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel (Samaria)]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|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 (textual)|emendation]]){{citation needed|date=November 2024}} Song of Songs 8:6,<ref name=JBQ>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)</ref> as well as in the phrase ''[[Hallelujah]]''. The name of Yahweh is also incorporated into several [[Theophory in the Bible|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 [[Solomon|Jedidjah]], [[Malchijah]], and [[Adonijah]].<ref name="Loewen2020"/>

== In the Tanakh ==
Yah occurs 50 times:<ref>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.</ref> 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.

== In the Christian New Testament ==
At Revelation 19:1-6, ''Jah'' is embedded in the phrase "[[hallelujah]]" ([[Tiberian Hebrew|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''.<ref name=jewishenciclopediatetra>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Jewish Enciclopedia|title=Tetragrammaton|author= Crawford Howell Toy, Ludwig Blau|year=1906|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14346-tetragrammaton}}</ref>

==Jewish and Christian Bibles==
In the [[King James Version]] of the [[Christian Bible]], the Hebrew יהּ<ref name="JE-Yah">[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=165&letter=T#630 Abbreviated Tetragrammaton] in the ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''.</ref> 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".<ref>{{bibleverse||Psalm|68:4|KJV}}</ref> ''[[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 [[Old Testament|Hebrew Scriptures]], and translates ''Hallelujah'' as "Praise Jah" in the [[New Testament|Greek Scriptures]]. The [[Sacred Name Bibles|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]], [[Sacred Name Bibles|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 [[Sacred Name Bibles|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 (Bible)|The Message]], [[New American Bible]] Revised Edition, The [[Jerusalem Bible]], The [[New Jerusalem Bible]], [[NJPS Tanakh]], [[Jewish Publication Society of America Version|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.

== Rastafari usage ==
{{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 aristocratic and court titles#Negusa Nagast|Ethiopian title]] ''Janhoy''.<ref>Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, William David Spencer, Adrian Anthony McFarlane (1998).''Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader''. p. 333.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Theophory in the Bible]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
* {{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}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}

{{Names of God}}
{{Rastafari}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible]]
[[Category:Tetragrammaton]]
[[Category:Rastafari]]
[[Category:Creator gods]]