I Am that I Am (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה, ehyeh ašer ehyeh [ehˈje aˈʃer ehˈje]) is the common English translation (JPS among others) of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for his name (Exodus 3:14). It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah. Hayah means "existed" in Hebrew; ehyeh is the first person singular imperfect form and is usually translated in English Bibles as "I am" or "I will be" (or "I shall be"), for example, at Exodus 3:14. Ehyeh asher ehyeh literally translates as "I Am Who I Am." The ancient Hebrew of Exodus 3:14 lacks a future tense as modern English does, yet a few translations render this name as "I Will Be What I Will Be", given the context of Yahweh promising to be with his people through their future troubles. Both the literal present tense "I Am" and the future tense "I will be" have given rise to many attendant theological and mystical implications in Jewish tradition. However, in most English Bibles, in particular the King James Version, the phrase is rendered as I am that I am.
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Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh (often contracted in English as "I AM") is one of the Seven Names of God accorded special care by medieval Jewish tradition. The phrase is also found in other world religious literature, used to describe the Supreme Being, generally referring back to its use in Exodus. The word Ehyeh is considered by many rabbinical scholars to be a first-person derivation of the Tetragrammaton, see for example Yahweh.
Hebrew Bible
The word AahYah is used a total of 43 places in the Hebrew Bible, where it is often translated as "I will be" – as is the case for its first occurrence, in Genesis 26:3 – or "I shall be," as is the case for its final occurrence in Zechariah 8:8. Used by God to identify himself in the burning bush, the importance placed on the phrase stems from the Hebrew conception of monotheism that God exists by himself for himself, and is the uncreated Creator who is independent of any concept, force, or entity; therefore "I am who I am" (ongoing).
Some scholars state that the Tetragrammaton itself derives from the same verbal root, following a rabbinical interpretation of Exodus 3:14, but others counter that it may simply sound similar as intended by God, such as Psalm 119 and the Hebrew words shoqed (watching) and shaqed (almond branch) found in Jeremiah 1:11-12. Whether the Holy Name (written as YHWH) is derived from AahYah or whether the two are individual concepts is a subject of debate among historians and theologians.
In appearance, it is possible to render YHWH (יהוה) as an archaic third person singular imperfect form of the verb ahyah (אהיה) "to be" meaning, therefore, "He is". It is notably distinct from the root El, which can be used as a simple noun to refer to the creator deity in general, as in Elohim, meaning simply "God" (or gods). This interpretation agrees with the meaning of the name given in Exodus 3:14, where God is represented as speaking, and hence as using the first person — AahYah "I am". Other scholars regard the triconsonantal root of hawah (הוה) as a more likely origin for the name Yahweh.
Hellenistic Judaism
In the Hellenistic Greek literature of the Jewish Diaspora the phrase "Ehyeh asher ehyeh" was rendered in Greek "ego eimi ho on ", "I am the BEING".
This usage is also found in the Christian New Testament:
Kabbalist interpretation
The response given by God is considered significant by many Kabbalists, because it is seen as an indication of the divine nature of God's name, a central idea in Kabbalah (and to a lesser degree Judaism in general).
Roman Catholicism
The Roman Catholic Church's interpretation has been summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The interpretation is found in numbers 203-213.
Some of the salient points are the following:
Other views
Some religious groups and theologians regard this phrase or at least the "I am" part of the phrase as an actual name of God, or to lesser degree the sole name of God. It can be found in many listings of other common names of God.
As discussed above, depending on how it is rendered (a subject of much debate among historians), the Hebrew name for God (YHWH) bears some similarity to an archaic form of "he is". In Biblical Hebrew, ehyeh is the first person singular imperfect "to be". In other world religions also the "I AM" part is the actual name of God.
The conceptualization of the omnipresence of the divine being has led to the consideration of simplicity. The unified perspectival concept of "I" combined with the supposition of omnipresence creates an atmosphere in which the unity of divine being and self can be easily understood.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge predicates much of the theoretical frame of his Biographia Literaria on what he calls 'the great I AM' (that is, God the Father) and 'the filial WORD that re-affirmeth it ...' (Christ, reaffirming his father's statement') '...from Eternity to Eternity, whose choral Echo is the Universe.' Coleridge's argument is that these two things together work to create the ground for all meaning, especially poetic and artistic meaning.
The South Indian sage Ramana Maharshi mentions that in the Hindu Advaita Vedanta school, 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 in the Mahavakyas, these are not as direct as given in Exodus. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj explains the "I am" 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.
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: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation. “I am,” thrice exclaimed The Bab, “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.”