![EhyehAsherEhyeh1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/EhyehAsherEhyeh1.jpg)
"I Am that I Am" is a
common English translation of the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
phrase (; )– also "I am who (I) am", "I will become what I choose to become", "I am what I am", "I will be what I will be", "I create what(ever) I create", or "I am the Existing One". The traditional English translation within
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
favours "I will be what I will be" because the
imperfective aspect
The imperfective (abbreviated or more ambiguously ) is a grammatical aspect used to describe ongoing, habitual, repeated, or similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. Although many languages have a gen ...
in
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the He ...
is normally used for future tense and there is no present tense with direct object of the verb "
to be
In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' i ...
" in the Hebrew language.
Etymology
() is the first of three responses given to
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
when he asks for
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
's name in the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...
.
[.] The word () is the first person singular
imperfective
The imperfective (abbreviated or more ambiguously ) is a grammatical aspect used to describe ongoing, habitual, repeated, or similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. Although many languages have a g ...
form of (), 'to be', and owing to the peculiarities of
Hebrew grammar
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
means 'I am' and 'I will be'. The meaning of the longer phrase is debated, and might be seen as a promise ('I will be with you') or as statement of incomparability ('I am without equal').
Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...
did not distinguish between
grammatical tense
In grammar, tense is a grammatical category, category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their grammatical conjugation, conjugation patterns.
The main tenses foun ...
s, it instead had an
aspectual system in which the
perfect denoted any actions that have been completed, and
imperfect
The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...
denoted any actions that are not yet completed. Because these aspects had such general ambiguity on the time and placement of an action, the "past tense" would be represented by a verb conjugated in the imperfect and prefixed by (''wa-''), the "future tense" would represented by a verb conjugated in the perfect and prefixed by , and the "present tense", generally, would be represented by a verb conjugated in the imperfect ''without'' the prefix . The word () is the
first-person singular imperfect form of , 'to be', which in Modern Hebrew indicates the future tense 'I will be'; however, it lacks the prefix which would necessitate this reading in Biblical Hebrew. It therefore may be translated as 'I am', but also as a
modal form such as 'I may be', 'I would be', 'I could be', etc. Accordingly, the whole phrase can be rendered in English not only as 'I ''am'' that I am' but also as 'I ''will be'' what I will be' or 'I will be who I will be', or 'I shall prove to be whatsoever I shall prove to be' or even 'I will be because I will be'. Other renderings include: Leeser, 'I Will Be that I Will Be'; Rotherham, 'I Will Become whatsoever I please', Greek, (), 'I am The Being' in the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
, and
Philo
Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Philo's deplo ...
, and the
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...
or, 'I am The Existing One'; Latin, , 'I am Who I am'.
The word () is a
relative pronoun
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause. It serves the purpose of conjoining modifying information about an antecedent referent.
An example is the word ''which'' in the sentence "This is the house which Jack built." Here the ...
whose meaning depends on the immediate context, so that 'that', 'who', 'which', or 'where' are all possible translations of that word.
[Seidner, 4.]
An application of this phrase used in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
has "But by the grace of God I am what I am ..." (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Interpretation
According to the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
, in the encounter of the
burning bush
The burning bush (or the unburnt bush) refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah (as also in the biblical Old Testament). It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the bib ...
()
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
asks what he is to say to the
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
when they ask what gods (
'Elohiym) have sent him to them, and
Yahweh
Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...
replies, "I am who I am", adding, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you. It is somewhat remarkable that despite this exchange, the Israelites never ask Moses for the name of God. Then there are a number of probably unanswerable questions, including who it is that does not know
God's name, Moses or the Israelites (most commentators take it that it is Moses who does not know, meaning that the Israelites will ask him the name in order to prove his credentials), and just what the statement means.
The last can be approached in three ways:
* "I am who I am" – an evasion of Moses' question;
* "I am who am" or "I am he who is" – a statement of the nature of Israel's God;
* I Am' is who I am", or "I am because I am" – this version has not played a major part in scholarly discussion of the phrase, but the first variant has been incorporated into the
New English Bible
The New English Bible (NEB) is an English translation of the Bible. The New Testament was published in 1961 and the Old Testament (with the Apocrypha) was published on 16 March 1970. In 1989, it was significantly revised and republished as the Re ...
.
Other views
In the
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Advaita Vedanta
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...
, the
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
n sage
Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi (; 30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) was an Indian Hindu sage and ''jivanmukta'' (liberated being). He was born Venkataraman Iyer, but is mostly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.
He was born in Tiruchuli, Ta ...
mentions that of all the definitions of God, "none is indeed so well put as the biblical statement 'I am that I am. He maintained that although Hindu scripture contains similar statements, the
Mahavakyas, these are not as direct as given in
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
. Further the "I am" is explained by
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nisargadatta Maharaj (born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli; 17 April 1897 – 8 September 1981) was an Indian guru of nondualism, belonging to the Inchagiri Sampradaya, a lineage of teachers from the Navnath Sampradaya and Lingayat Shaivism. ...
as an abstraction in the mind of the Stateless State, of the Absolute, or the Supreme Reality, called
Parabrahman
''Para Brahman'' ( sa, परब्रह्म, translit=parabrahma, translit-std=IAST) in Hindu philosophy is the "Supreme Brahman" that which is beyond all descriptions and conceptualisations. It is described as the formless (in the sense th ...
: it is pure awareness, prior to thoughts, free from perceptions, associations, memories. Parabrahman is often considered to be a
cognate term for the Supreme Being in Hinduism.
Victor P. Hamilton
Victor P. Hamilton (born 26 September 1941) is a Canadian / American Old Testament scholar. He was Professor of Old Testament and Theology at Asbury University from 1971 until 2007. His retains the role of professor emeritus of Old Testament at ...
suggests "some legitimate translations ...: (1) 'I am who I am'; (2) 'I am who I was'; (3) 'I am who I shall be'; (4) 'I was who I am'; (5) 'I was who I was'; (6) 'I was who I shall be'; (7) 'I shall be who I am'; (8) 'I shall be who I was'; (9) 'I shall be who I shall be'."
The
Bahá'í Faith reference to "I Am" can be found in on page 316 of ''
The Dawn-Breakers
''The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baháʼí Revelation'' (''Maṭāle al-anwār'') or ''Nabíl's Narrative'' (''Táríkh-i-Nabíl'') is an account of the early Bábí and Baháʼí Faiths written in Persian by Nab ...
'':
See also
*
Aham Brahmasmi
Aham may refer to:
People
* Aham Okeke (born 1969), Nigerian-born Norwegian sprinter
* Aham Sharma, Indian film and television actor
Places
* Aham, Germany, municipality in Bavaria
Other
* Aham (Kashmir Shaivism)
* Aham (film)
''Aham'' () is ...
*
Be, and it is
"Be, and it is" ( ) is a phrase that occurs several times in the Quran, referring to creation by Allah. In Arabic the imperative verb ''be'' ('' kun'') is spelled with the letters ''kāf'' and '' nūn''.
Kun fa-yakūnu has its reference in the Qur ...
*
Ego eimi
''Ego eimi'' ( grc, ἐγώ εἰμι ) "I am", "I exist", is the first person singular present active indicative of the verb "to be" in ancient Greek. The use of this phrase in some of the uses found in the Gospel of John is considered to have ...
*
El
*
Elohim
''Elohim'' (: ), the plural of (), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it usually takes a singular verb and refers to a single deity, particularly (but not always) the God of Israel. At other times ...
*
I am (biblical term)
The Koine Greek term '' Ego eimi'' (Greek Ἐγώ εἰμί, ), literally I am or It is I, is an emphatic form of the copulative verb εἰμι that is recorded in the Gospels to have been spoken by Jesus on several occasions to refer to himself ...
* e.g. "I and I"
*
It Is What It Is
*
I Yam What I Yam
''I Yam What I Yam'' is the second ''Popeye'' theatrical cartoon short, starring William "Billy" Costello as Popeye, Bonnie Poe as Olive Oyl and Charles Lawrence as Wimpy. The source of the quote is the comic strip, Thimble Theatre by E. C. S ...
*
Jehovah
Jehovah () is a Latinization of the Hebrew , one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament. The Tetragrammaton is considered one of the seven names of God in Judais ...
*
Names of God
There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word ''god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or speci ...
*
Names of God in Islam
Names of God in Islam ( ar, أَسْمَاءُ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ , "''Allah's Beautiful Names''") are names attributed to God in Islam by Muslims. While some names are only in the Quran, and others are only in the hadith, th ...
*
Om
*
Self-reference
Self-reference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence, idea or formula refers to itself. The reference may be expressed either directly—through some intermediate sentence or formula—or by means of some encoding. In philoso ...
*
Soham
Soham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket. Its population was 10,860 at the 2011 census.
History Archaeology
The region between Dev ...
*
Tat Tvam Asi
Tat or TAT may refer to:
Geography
* Tát, a Hungarian village
* Tat Ali, an Ethiopian volcano
People
*Tat, a son and disciple of Hermes Trismegistus
* Tiffani Amber Thiessen, initials T.A.T.
* Tat Wood, a British author
Arts, entertainment, a ...
*
Tetragrammaton
The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...
*
Unmoved mover
The unmoved mover ( grc, ὃ οὐ κινούμενον κινεῖ, ho ou kinoúmenon kineî, that which moves without being moved) or prime mover ( la, primum movens) is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary cause (or first uncaused cau ...
* ''
You Are What You Is
''You Are What You Is'' is a 1981 double album by American musician Frank Zappa. His 34th album, it consists of three musical suites which encompass pop, doo-wop, jazz, hard rock, reggae, soul, blues, new wave and country. The album's lyrics sat ...
''
*
Quine (computing)
A quine is a computer program which takes no input and produces a copy of its own source code as its only output. The standard terms for these programs in the computability theory and computer science literature are "self-replicating programs", " ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
{{Names of God
Book of Exodus
Christian mysticism
Hebrew Bible words and phrases
Jewish mysticism
Names of God in Christianity
Names of God in Judaism