"JAH"


The name 'Jah' is by far the most frequently occurring form of God's name found in Rasta Reggae lyrics, and often replaces the words 'God' or 'LORD' when they appear in biblical quotations.

The form taken by God's sacred name in scripture has a complicated history. In the original Hebrew text, written without vowels, God's name appears as a series of four Hebrew consonants, usually transliterated as YHWH or JHVH.

In Exodus 3:14, there is an attempt to link this name with the verb meaning 'to be' - this was apparently to show the people of Israel that their God truly existed. However, for pious or superstitious reasons (probably derived from a misinterpretation of Leviticus 24:16), this name was considered too holy to be pronounced, and so the word 'Adonai' (meaning literally 'my Lord' or 'my lords') was substituted by the reader.

Later on, a group of Jews (the so-called 'Masoretes') added vowel-markings to the entire Hebrew text. However, by this stage, it was no longer known how God's name should be correctly pronounced. The Masoretes therefore applied the vowels from the word 'Adonai' in a slightly modified form, and the resulting combination is often rendered as 'Jehovah' ('Yehowah') in English.

The majority of modern-day scholars agree that the most likely pronunciation of the letters YHWH is 'Yahweh'. However, even today, few English Bible translations feature God's name as 'Yahweh', or even the commonly accepted form 'Jehovah', instead printing the phrase 'the LORD', which has been a widespread practice ever since it was adopted in the Authorized King James Version of 1611. (Compare for example these parallel translations of Psalm 1:2). However, even in the KJV (King James Version), the name JEHOVAH is retained in four places - Exodus 6:3, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 12:2 and 26:4.

Occasionally in the Hebrew text, one finds an abbreviation of YHWH, which is thus written simply as 'YH'. This shortened form of God's name is sometimes used in poetry (e.g. in the Psalms), and is also evident in compund names, such as 'Abijah' or 'Elijah'. It is retained in the KJV translation in just one place:

Hence, JAH is used in many Reggae song lyrics as the name of God.

Many devoutly religious people have been deeply concerned at the sad fact that no one apparently knows for sure how God's name should be pronounced. However, maybe that is no bad thing. There is surely something profound about the ancient Jewish tradition that God's name is by its very nature unpronounceable. After all, in ancient cultures, the knowledge of the name of an angel, being or deity was often considred to give control over that being - certainly, the Jews would never wish to imply that their all-powerful God could become subject to control. Indeed, the only mortal human who ever came close to discovering God's name was Moses, though even in this case, God seemingly answered him rather elusively from the Burning Bush,
'I AM THAT I AM'.





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