Tetragrammaton
Yah
Yah
יָהּ
- Meaning
- The short form of the Tetragrammaton.
- Occurrences
- ~50 times, mostly in Psalms
- First occurrence
- Exodus 15:2
- Languages
- Biblical Hebrew
Pronunciation
yah
Origin
Preserved in the liturgical shout Hallelu-Yah ('praise Yah') and in hundreds of theophoric names: Isaiah (Yesha'yahu), Jeremiah (Yirmeyahu), Elijah (Eliyahu), Zechariah, Obadiah.
Usage & scribal practice
Because it survives inside personal names, Yah is the single strongest piece of evidence for the vowel quality of the first syllable of the Tetragrammaton.
Cross-references
Exodus 15:2
'Yah is my strength and my song.'
Psalm 68:4
'…by his name YAH.'
Revelation 19:1
'Hallelujah!' — the Hebrew shout transliterated into Greek.
Theories, myths & conspiracy claims
Each claim is stated as its proponents state it, then assessed against the manuscript and linguistic evidence.
'Hallelujah' secretly praises a pagan moon deity
The claim: Circulated Sacred Name and anti-Christian tract claim that Yah names a Canaanite or Egyptian god.
Assessment: No evidence. Yah is straightforwardly the abbreviated Tetragrammaton, attested in the same inscriptions and names as the full form.