Unsolved:I Am that I Am

Short description: English translation of the Hebrew phrase

The Hebrew text with niqqud

"I Am that I Am" is a common English translation of the Hebrew phrase אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎ (’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye; pronounced [ʔehˈje ʔaˈʃer ʔehˈje])– 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 favours "I will be what I will be" because the imperfective aspect in Modern Hebrew is normally used for future tense and there is no present tense with direct object of the verb "to be" in the Hebrew language.

Etymology

אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye) is the first of three responses given to Moses when he asks for God's name in the Book of Exodus. The word אֶהְיֶה (’Ehyeh) is the first person singular imperfective form of הָיָה‎ (hayah), 'to be', and owing to the peculiarities of Hebrew grammar means 'I am' and 'I will be'. The meaning of the longer phrase ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh 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 did not distinguish between grammatical tenses. It instead had an aspectual system in which the perfect denoted any actions that have been completed, and imperfect 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 וַ־ (wa-), the "future tense" would be represented by a verb conjugated in the perfect and prefixed by וַ־, and the "present tense", generally, would be represented by a verb conjugated in the imperfect without the prefix וַ־. The word אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh) is the first-person singular imperfect form of hayah, 'to be', which in Modern Hebrew indicates the future tense 'I will be'; however, it lacks the prefix וַ־ 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, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν (Ego eimi ho on), 'I am The Being' in the Septuagint, and Philo, and the Book of Revelation or, 'I am The Existing One'; Latin, ego sum qui sum, 'I am Who I am'.

The word אֲשֶׁר (’ăšer) is a relative pronoun whose meaning depends on the immediate context, so that 'that', 'who', 'which', or 'where' are all possible translations of that word.

An application of this phrase used in the New Testament has "But by the grace of God I am what I am ..." (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Interpretation

According to the Hebrew Bible, in the encounter of the burning bush (Exodus 3:14) Moses asks what he is to say to the Israelites when they ask what gods ('Elohiym) have sent him to them, and YHWH 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.

Roman Catholicism

St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctors of the Church, identified the Being of Exodus 3:14 with the Esse ipsum subsistens, who is God Himself, and, in metaphysics, the Being in the strong or intensive sense in whom one has all the determinations of every being in their highest degree of perfection. Therefore, this Being is actuality of every actuality (or pure Act) and perfection of all perfections. In Him, solely essence and existence (in Latin: Actus essendi) are identified. While St. Augustine had a general intuition of Him, His philosophical formulation came only with St. Thomas.

Other views

In the Hindu Advaita Vedanta, the South Indian sage Ramana Maharshi 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. Further the "I am" is explained by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj as an abstraction in the mind of the Stateless State, of the Absolute, or the Supreme Reality, called Parabrahman: 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 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:

"I am," thrice exclaimed the Báb, "I am, I am, the promised One! I am the One whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at whose mention you have risen, whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word and to pledge allegiance to My person."

See also

• Aham Brahmasmi
• Be, and it is
• Cogito, ergo sum
• Ego eimi
• El
• Elohim
• God and eternity
• I am (biblical term)
• Iyaric § I words e.g. "I and I"
• It Is What It Is
• I Yam What I Yam
• Jehovah
• Names of God
• Names of God in Islam
• Om
• Self-reference
• Shath
• Soham
• Tat Tvam Asi
• Tetragrammaton
• Unmoved mover
• You Are What You Is
• Quine (computing)

Bibliography

• Hamilton, Victor P. (2011). Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary. Baker Books. ISBN 9781441240095. https://books.google.com/books?id=vUry0cGNR_IC. 
• Mettinger, Tryggve (2005). In Search of God ['Elohiym: The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names]. Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451419351. https://books.google.com/books?id=lZL2A-JLMcQC. 
• Parke-Taylor, G.H. (1975), Yahweh [YHWH: The Divine Name in the Bible], Wilfrid Laurier University Press, ISBN 0-88920-013-0, https://books.google.com/books?id=XZhkDQAAQBAJ&q=%22a+satisfactory+etymological+origin+for+the+tetragrammaton%22&pg=PA47 
• Stone, Robert E. II (2000). "I Am Who I Am". in Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C.. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9789053565032. https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&q=i+am. 
• Van der Toorn, Karel (1999). "Yahweh". in Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter Willem. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802824912. https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&q=%22If+the+Kenite+hypothesis+is+to+be+maintained%22&pg=PA912. 
• Hayes, Christine. "RLST 145 - Lecture 7 - Israel in Egypt: Moses and the Beginning of Yahwism (Genesis 37- Exodus 4) | Open Yale Courses". https://oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-145/lecture-7.