Jah or 
Yah (
Hebrew: יהּ 
Yahu) is a short form of 
Yahweh (in consonantal spelling 
YHWH; 
Hebrew: יהוה), 
the proper name of the 
God of Israel in the 
Hebrew Bible.[SUP]
[1][/SUP] This short form of the name occurs 50 times in the text of the Hebrew Bible, of which 24 form part of the phrase 
Hallelu-jah.
 In an English-language context, the name 
Jah is now most commonly associated with the 
Rastafari. It is otherwise mostly limited to the phrase 
Hallelujah and 
theophoric names such as 
Elijah. In the 
Authorized King James Version (1611) there is only a single instance of 
JAH (capitalised) in only one instance, in 
Psalm 68:4. 
An American Translation (1939) follows KJV in using 
Yah in this verse. The conventional English pronunciation of 
Jah is 
/ˈdʒɑː/, even though the letter 
J here transliterates the 
palatal approximant (Hebrew 
Yodh). The spelling 
Yah is designed to make the pronunciation 
/ˈjɑː/ explicit in an English-language context (see also 
romanization of Hebrew).
Rastafari use the terms "Jah" or sometimes "Jah Jah" as a term for God and/or 
Haile Selassie I, who is also known by the Amharic title 
Janhoy (literally "Your Majesty").[SUP]
[2][/SUP]