Why it's YEhovah, but Hallelu'YAh. Dr. Nehemia Gordon on FB: In fact Judah is Yehudah, not Yahudah. Also, Yehoshua not Yahoshua. These are facts, not opinions. Yah is a poetic form of Yehovah, like Yeshurun for Yisrael. You can't determine the pronunciation of a regular form based on a poetic form, unless you want to pronounce Yisrael as Yeshurul (based on Yeshurun).