The Name: YHVH, Yah and HalleluYah

The Hebrew Scriptures call the Father by a personal name. Here is how to recognize it, and its short forms, in Hebrew and in English.

YHVH יהוה

The name is four Hebrew letters. Hebrew reads from right to left, so the first letter is on the right:

  1. יYodY
  2. הHeH
  3. וVavV (or W)
  4. הHeH

In English the letters are written YHVH or YHWH. The difference is only how the third letter, Vav, is spelled in English. It is the same name. NCAY reads the name as Yehovah.

YHVH appears about 6,800 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. Many English Bibles print “the LORD” in small capital letters wherever the Hebrew has YHVH, so if you see LORD in capitals, the Hebrew behind it is the Name. The King James Version prints “JEHOVAH” in a few places, such as Exodus 6:3 and Psalm 83:18.

  • Exodus 3:15 — “this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
  • Isaiah 42:8 — “I am YHVH: that is my name.”
  • Psalm 83:18 — “thou, whose name alone is YHVH, art the most high over all the earth.”

Yah יה

Yah is the short form of the Name, made from its first two letters, Yod and He. It shows up in songs and praise:

  • Exodus 15:2 — “Yah is my strength and song.”
  • Psalm 68:4 — “extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Yah.” (The KJV spells it JAH.)
  • Isaiah 12:2 and Isaiah 26:4 — “Yah YHVH” together.

You also hear Yah at the end of many Hebrew names, like Eliyahu (Elijah, “my El is Yah”) and Zekharyah (Zechariah, “Yah remembers”).

HalleluYah הללויה

Hallelu means “praise” (said to a group, “all of you, praise”), and Yah is the Name. So HalleluYah means “Praise Yah.” When you say “hallelujah,” you are already saying the Name.

  • Psalm 104:35 — the first HalleluYah in the Psalms.
  • Psalms 146–150 — each one opens and closes with HalleluYah.
  • Psalm 150:6 — “Let every thing that hath breath praise Yah. HalleluYah.”
  • Revelation 19:1–6 — the word appears four times, carried over from Hebrew.

“As for me and my house”

וְאָנֹכִי וּבֵיתִי נַעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהוָה

The end of Joshua 24:15 in Hebrew reads ve’anokhi uveiti na’avod et-YHVH, word for word “and I and my house, we will serve YHVH.” Look for the four letters יהוה at the far left of the line, the last word you read. PraiseYah’s shirt line, “As for me and my house, we follow YHVH,” comes from this verse.

Quoted verses follow the King James Version, with the Name restored where the Hebrew has YHVH or Yah.

Wear the Name