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"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 th ...
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 ge ...
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 pr ...
when he asks for
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
'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 ...
.. 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 ge ...
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 th ...
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 t ...
did not distinguish between
grammatical tense In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, presen ...
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 ...
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 t ...
, 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 de ...
, 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 ...
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 r ...
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 Chris ...
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"
'' 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 ...
()
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 pr ...
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 po ...
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 R ...
.


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 Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' ...
, 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 terr ...
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, T ...
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 * E ...
. 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 ''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 ...
: 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) * Association ...
*
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 * 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) * 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. Se ...
*
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 Judaism ...
*
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 spec ...
*
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 De ...
*
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, and m ...
*
Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter 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'', '' waw'', and ...
*
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 ...
'' *
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

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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