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Translating the Name

Translating the Name

Exodus 3:14

Excerpt

‎God said shows the narrator’s insistence that it is God who is about to reveal his name. But I am who I am is not the name; it is an intentional play on the word I am, the word on which the name YHWH in verse 15 is based. This roundabout reply is not as difficult to translate as it is to understand. Various attempts have been made to translate the meaning: “I am; that is who I am” (NEB); “I am who am” (NAB); “I am he who is” (NJB). One translation (TAN) even transliterates from the Hebrew: “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.” Another way to express this is “ ‘I Am’ is who I am.” In languages that have different verbs for permanent and temporary being, the permanent one should be used.

Osborn, Noel D., and Howard A. Hatton. A Handbook on Exodus. New York: United Bible Societies, 1999. Print. UBS Handbook Series.
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