Exodus 3:14

Context

While Moses is tending sheep in the wilderness of Midian, God appears to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and commands him to bring Israel out of Egypt (3:1-10). When Moses hesitates, asking, "Who am I?", God replies, "Certainly I will be with thee" (3:12). Moses then asks what he should say if the people ask God's name. God answers with the words of verse 14, and in verse 15 declares, "The LORD … this is my name for ever."

The Hebrew reads ehyeh asher ehyeh. Ehyeh is the first-person form of a verb meaning "to be" or "to become," so the phrase can be rendered "I am who I am," "I will be who I will be," or simply "I am I." The four-letter divine name of the Old Testament (YHWH) is also thought to be related to the same verb.

Interpretation

• Ontological reading: The Greek Septuagint rendered the verse "I am the one who is." In patristic and medieval theology, this translation became the basis for the doctrine that God exists of himself, dependent on nothing else (divine aseity). The Korean Revised Version's rendering, "he who exists of himself," follows this tradition.
• Reading as a promise of presence: Noting that the same verb (ehyeh) appears in verse 12, "I will be with thee," this reading understands the verse less as a statement about abstract being and more as a dynamic promise: "I am the one who will be with you." Many modern Old Testament scholars emphasize this aspect.
• Reading as a withholding of the name: Some interpreters take a rendering such as "I am who I am" to mean that God declined to give a name that human beings could manipulate or define at will.

Debates and Issues

• Connection with the New Testament: In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses "I am" expressions, as in "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). The church has linked these sayings to this verse and read them as revealing the divinity of Christ.
• Rendering of the divine name: To avoid pronouncing the name carelessly, Jews read YHWH as Adonai ("Lord"). The form "Jehovah" arose from combining the name with this practice; scholars generally reconstruct the original pronunciation as something close to "Yahweh." The Korean Revised Version uses "Jehovah," while the Korean Common Translation uses "Yahweh."
• Jehovah's Witnesses place great emphasis on calling upon the divine name "Jehovah" and also translate John 8:58 differently. Major denominations criticize this as a translation intended to deny the divinity of Christ.

Related Passages

• Exodus 3:12-15
• Exodus 6:2-3
• John 8:58
• Isaiah 43:10-11
• Revelation 1:8