יהוה
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
“…I have remembered your name
O Jehovah…”
¾Psalm 119:55
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
by Patrick Christian Navas
In most English translations
of the Bible, whenever you read the title LORD or GOD (all capital letters), it always denotes these
four Hebrew characters (above, read from right to left)—transliterated into
English as YHWH or JHVH—generally referred to by scholars as the Tetragrammaton
(or Tetragram), meaning ‘four letters.’ The Tetragrammaton represents the
unique and personal name of God, ‘Yah×weh’ or ‘Jehovah.’
The name occurs nearly 7000 (6,828) times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures or
Old Testament. As one Dictionary of the Bible points out:
The God of Israel is called by
His personal name more frequently than by all other titles combined; the name
not only identified the person, it revealed his character.[1]
Some scholars believe
that in the Hebrew language the divine name was originally pronounced as
“Yahweh,” and is rendered as such in several modern English Bible translations.
However, it is more likely that the name was originally pronounced in a three
syllable form, as “Yeh×o×wah” or some such variation (‘Jehovah’ is
the English form of the divine name). Yet it remains true to say that no one
knows for an absolute certainty how the name of God was originally
pronounced.[2]
In The Bible, An American Translation,
the editor made the following comments regarding the translation and use of the
divine name in the English Bible:
In this translation we have
followed the orthodox Jewish tradition and substituted ‘the Lord’ for the name
‘Yahweh’ and the phrase ‘the Lord God’ for the phrase ‘the Lord Yahweh.’ In all
cases where ‘Lord’ or ‘God’ represents an original ‘Yahweh’ small capitals are
employed. Anyone, therefore, who desires to retain the flavor of the original
text has but to read ‘Yahweh’ wherever he sees Lord or God.[3]
Everett Fox,
translator of the Shocken Bible, explains his preferred method of
translating the sacred name of the Almighty as follows:
The reader will immediately
notice that the personal name of the Biblical God appears in this volume as ‘YHWH.’
That is pretty standard scholarly practice, but it does not indicate how the
name should be pronounced… While the visual effect of ‘YHWH’ may be jarring at
first, it has the merit of approximating the situation of the Hebrew text as we
now have it, and of leaving open the unresolved question of the pronunciation
and meaning of God’s name… Historically, Jewish and Christian translations of
the Bible into English have tended to use ‘Lord,’ with some exceptions
(notably, Moffatt’s ‘The Eternal’). Both old and new attempts to recover the
‘correct’ pronunciation of the Hebrew name have not succeeded; neither the
sometimes-heard ‘Jehovah’ nor the standard scholarly ‘Yahweh’ can be
conclusively proven.
Although ‘Jehovah’[4] and ‘Yahweh’ cannot be proven conclusively, both forms do have the
merit of preserving the four consonants of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH or the
latinized JHVH), and most English Bible translations that include God’s
personal name use either of the two forms. Additionally, both forms are familiar
to most students of Scripture and generally make possible for easy and
immediate identification.
Some Bible students
have taken issue against the English form “Jehovah,” referring to it a “hybrid”
and an “erroneous pronunciation.” It has been pointed out that God’s name could
never have been pronounced that way, and that today we should pronounce and
translate the name as “Yahweh.” However, the claim of Bible translators has
never been that God’s name was originally pronounced as “Jehovah.”
Jehovah is simply the form that conforms to normal English usage with respect
to Hebrew names in the Bible. For example, in Hebrew, the name “Isaiah” was
probably pronounced originally as “Yeshayahu.” Similarly the English “
Steven T. Byington,
translator of The Bible in Living English (p. 7), made the following remarks with respect to God’s name
and pronunciation:
…the spelling and the
pronunciation are not highly important. What is highly important is to keep it
clear that this is a personal name. There are several texts that cannot be
properly understood if we translate this name by a common noun like ‘Lord,’ or,
much worse, by a substantivized adjective [for example, the Eternal].
The avoidance of
pronouncing God’s name by the Jews of latter times likely resulted from a
misunderstanding of one of the “Ten Words” or “Ten Commandments,” “Thou shall
not take the name of the LORD [Jehovah] thy God in
vain.” (Exodus 20:7, KJV). As one
source commented:
Whenever readers came to the
word YHWH, they read adonai [‘lord’], lest they should ‘blaspheme’ God
by pronouncing his name out loud. Never did God Himself require them to
takes such measures, but that is how they interpreted Exodus 20:7... In
order to ensure that they would not take his name in vain, they simply refused
to speak His name at all. It is hard to imagine that God intended such an
extreme position, considering the fact that his name occurs 6,823 [or 6,828]
times in the Old Testament. Furthermore, God inspired a Psalmist to say that he
would call on ‘the name of [Jehovah]” in response to His goodness: Psalm
116:13, 17 (13) I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of
[Jehovah] (17) I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of
[Jehovah].’[5]
The
Concise Bible Dictionary based upon the Illustrated Bible Treasury states:
The Jews out of reverence for
the holy name, shrank from pronouncing it, and wherever it occurs in the Old
Testament, read ‘Adonai’; and this practice, which prevailed from at least the
third century b.c., influenced the translators.[6]
Commenting further on
the suppression of the divine name, the introduction to Rotherham’s
Emphasized Bible has the following observation:
…it remains true to say, that
in our public versions the one especial Name of God is suppressed, wholly
concealed from the listening ear, almost as completely hidden from the
hastening or uncritical eye… It is therefore the most natural presumption that
the suppression of The Name has entailed on the reader, and especially upon the
hearer, irreparable loss…The motive was good—let that be assumed. It was to
safeguard the Divine majesty in the minds of men. It was to prevent the
inconsiderate mention of Him before whom seraphs veil their faces…The passages
commonly cited as furnishing good reason for the suppression cannot mean what
is attributed to them, since there is a wide distinction between not taking His
Name in vain, and not taking His Name into our lips at all, even for prayer or
praise. In a word, the motive is respected; but the reverence is regarded as
misapplied¾the
reason is seen to be invalid.[7]
Another example of
what is typically offered as an explanation/justification for the reason why
translators render God’s name as “LORD (rather
than his personal and proper name)” is found in the opening pages of the New
American Standard Bible (1979). In its preface the translators state the
following:
In the Scriptures, the name of
God is most significant and understandably so. It is inconceivable to think of
spiritual matters without a proper designation for the Supreme Deity. Thus the
most common name for Deity is God, a translation of the original Elohim. The
normal word for Master is Lord, a rendering of Adonai. There is yet another name
which is particularly assigned to God as His special or proper name, that is,
the four letters YHWH (Exodus 3:14 and Isaiah 42:8). This name has not been
pronounced by the Jews because of reverence for the great sacredness of the
divine name. Therefore, it was consistently pronounced and translated LORD.
It is certainly true
that God’s name is sacred and that his people are to treat his name with great
reverence. But what is frequently overlooked by many is the fact that the above
reasoning offered for substituting the divine name with the title ‘LORD’ (or, ‘GOD’) is,
in reality, an appeal to a post/extra-biblical Jewish tradition/superstition,
rather than an appeal based upon the actual Scriptures themselves. There is no
evidence in the Bible indicating that God ever willed or purposed that his
people follow such a practice, particularly when reading aloud from the Hebrew
portion of the holy Scriptures (where his name occurs nearly 7000 times). It
must be remembered, that the Jews who initiated and followed the practice of
substituting the name Adonai (Lord) and Elohim (God) for YHWH,
were not the same noteworthy and exemplary Biblical men of faith like
Abraham, Moses and David; nor were they the God-appointed prophets of ancient
Although the majority
of English Bible translators were influenced by the long held Jewish tradition
of replacing God’s name with adonai (LORD), there are several modern English
translations that do not follow that practice. Concerning the rendering of the
sacred name as Jehovah, the Preface to the American Standard Version (1901)
states:
The change first proposed in the
Appendix-that which substitutes ‘Jehovah’ for ‘Lord’ and ‘God’ (printed in
small capitals)-is one which will be unwelcome to many, because of the
frequency and familiarity of the terms displaced. But the American Revisers,
after careful consideration, were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish
superstition, which regards the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered,
ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old
Testament, as it fortunately does not in the numerous versions made by modern
missionaries. This Memorial Name, explained in Ex.iii. 14, 15, and emphasized
as such over and over in the original text of the Old Testament, designates God
as the personal God, as the covenant God, the God of revelation, the Deliverer,
the Friend of his people; not merely the abstractly ‘Eternal One’ of many
French translations, but the ever living Helper of those who are in trouble.
This personal name, with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to
the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim.[8]
An article written on
the subject of divine name in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Vol.
II, p. 1266) points out:
It is illogical, certainly, that
the later Hebrews should have shrunk from its pronunciation, in view of the
appropriateness of the name and of the OT insistence on the personality of God,
who as a person has this name. ARV quite correctly adopts the transliteration
‘Jehovah’ to emphasize its significance and purpose as a personal name of God
revealed.
Commenting on the meaning
of the divine name, a footnote on Exodus 3:14 in the Contemporary
English Version (p. 60) of the Bible states:
LORD: The Hebrew text has
‘Yahweh,’ which is usually translated ‘LORD’ in CEV. Since it seems related to
the word translated ‘I am,’ it may mean ‘I am the one who is’ or ‘I will be
what I will be’ or ‘I am the one who brings into being.’ (underlining
added)
The significance of
God’s memorial name was revealed to Moses at Exodus 3:14, 15, in the account of
the burning bush. Although several popular Bible translations render God’s
words, in his response to Moses’ question about his identity, as ‘I am that
I am’ [Hebrew: ‘ehyeh asher ehyeh’] (KJV, NKJV, NASB), several
scholarly sources suggest the following:
Some scholars, however, prefer
to take the word as a future, ‘I will be,’ in which case the name expresses
rather the faithfulness of God, the assurance that He will be with His people
as their helper and deliverer. Others, again, take the word to be the causative
form of the verb, in which case it will mean, ‘He causes to be,’ ‘the Creator’…[9]
This thesis holds Yahwe
to be originally a finite causative verb from the Northwest Semitic root hwy
‘to be, to come into being,’ so that the divine name would mean ‘he causes to
be, or exist,’ i. e, ‘he creates.’[10]
…the most accurate meaning of
God’s name seems to be ‘He causes to become’ (based upon the causal ה), that is, everything that He
wishes to happen is because of his will and becomes a reality (Isaiah
55:10,11), there is nothing God cannot accomplish nor do, except lying (Titus
1:2).[11]
As is always the case in the
ancient Near East, this name is not simply a label for identification, but
much more profoundly a revelation of the divine nature. This means that the
meaning of the four consonants YHWH as they appear in the Hebrew Ex.3:15, 6:3
must be seen as a heightening of the awareness of the nature of God as he
revealed himself to Moses. There is a contrast drawn in chapter three between
the way God revealed himself to the Patriarchs and the way he will now reveal
himself to
What follows are other
possible meanings associated with the divine name, as the following versions of
the Bible would indicate at Exodus 3:14:
“I WILL BE WHAT I
WILL BE.”
¾New International Version (marginal rendering)
“I WILL BE THAT I
WILL BE”
¾American Standard Version (marginal rendering)
“I Will Become
whatsoever I please.”
¾Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible
“I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE.”
¾
“I will be-there howsoever
I will be-there.”
¾The Shocken Bible,
The
following reference work explains:
In Exodus
Vol. 2, page 507 of
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia also states the
following regarding the commonly offered translation “I am that I am”:
‘I will be who/what I will
be’…is preferable because the verb hayah [to be] has a more dynamic
sense of being- not pure existence, but becoming, happening, being present—and
because the historical and theological context of these early chapters of
Exodus shows that God is revealing to Moses, and subsequently to the whole
people, not the inner nature of His being [or existence], but his active,
redemptive intentions on their behalf. He ‘will be’ to them ‘what’ His deeds
will show Him ‘to be.’
“My strength and my song is Jah,
and he is become my salvation…”
¾Psalm 118:14
“Jah,” in
English, is the abbreviated
and poetic form of Jehovah in the Bible (represented by the first half of the
Tetragrammaton, Y/J and H respectively). The psalmist declared, “Sing unto God,
sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH,
and rejoice before him.” (Psalm 68:4, KJV) The name Jah is almost always
associated with more moving and emotional expressions, like poems or songs of
praise and affection expressed for Jehovah. The prophet Isaiah wrote: “Lo, God
is my salvation, I trust, and fear not, For my strength and my song is Jah
Jehovah, And He is to me for salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2, YLT)[14] Expressions of praise to Jah are found
throughout the Book of Psalms (50 times total) and 4 times in the Book of
Revelation: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our
God, for true and just are his judgments.” (Revelation 19:1-2, NIV) The expression “Hallelujah”
means “Praise Jah,”
literally, “Praise ye Jah” (Psalm 148:1, YLT) or “Praise Jah you people!” (Psalm 146:1, NWT) Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible reads,
‘Praise ye Yah’ [Yahweh]
(Psalm 150:6) “Jah” also enters into the composition of many Hebrew words and
names, for example: Elijah [my God is Jah], Abijah [my father is Jah], Jedidiah [beloved of Jah], Jesus [salvation (or help)
of Jah (Jehovah) or, Jah saves].
“Jehovah of Armies is his name,
the Holy One of
¾Isaiah 47:4
Throughout the holy
Scriptures, God is called (in Hebrew): “Yahweh Sabaoth,” English: “Jehovah
of hosts” (ASV) or “Jehovah of
Armies” (BLE), “the LORD of hosts” (KJV). God’s prophet observed
the seraphim crying, “Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth [Jehovah of Hosts].
His glory fills the whole earth.” (Isaiah 6:3 NJB). This divine title, “Jehovah of hosts” may originally have
been referring to the “hosts” or “armies” of
Regarding the
occurrence of the divine name in the Christian Scriptures or New Testament, one
Christian author made the following observation:
As to the Bible books written
in the first century, there is no extant Greek manuscript evidence that the
name appeared in any passage (Matthew to Revelation). Regarding the possibility
that this was the case in the original text when quotations were made from the
Hebrew text, George Howard (in a Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, 1995) writes:
“The occurrence of the Divine Name in Shem Tob’s Matthew
[contained in his treatise Even Bohan, a 14th-century polemic
work designed to help Jews defend their faith] supports the conclusions I
reached in an earlier study of the Tetragrammaton in the New Testament, basing
my observations on the use of the Divine Name in the Septuagint and in the Dead
Sea Scrolls. Some pre-Christian copies of the Septuagint, for example, contain
the Divine Name written into the Greek text…In my previous study, I concluded
that the New Testament writers, who had access to such copies of the
Septuagint, may have preserved the Tetragrammaton in their biblical quotations
from the Septuagint. Now Shem-Tob’s Matthew testifies to the use of the Divine
Name in the New Testament…[1]t is very unlikely that Shem-Tob inserted the
Divine Name into his text. No Jewish polemist would have done that. Whatever
the date of this text, it must have included the Divine Name from its
inception. One final note regarding the Divine Name: Shem Tob’s Matthew shows a
very conservative attitude toward its usage. The author of this text was not a
radical Christian, arbitrarily supplying the gospel with the Tetragrammaton.
His attitude was one of awe and respect. In fact, his use of the Divine Name
corresponds to the conservative practice found in the Septuagint and in the
Whatever conclusion as to the written text of ‘New Testament’ writings
that one may reach on the basis of such evidence, there is no reason to doubt
that, when seeing his Father’s name in the Scriptures, Jesus would have read
what was recorded and would have done likewise when quoting from memory. It
was, however, the close filial relationship that Jesus expressed in calling God
his Father that enraged the unbelieving Jews. (John 5:17, 18) He repeatedly
addressed God as Father and taught his disciples to do the same. (Matthew 6:9;
John 14:1-17:26) Therefore, if the divine name did occur in the original Greek
manuscripts of the ‘New Testament,’ this would understandably not have been
frequent, the emphasis being on the sonship of Jesus’ disciples.[16]
Knowing and calling upon
the name of Jehovah can contribute to a sense of trust and confidence in the
Creator. It can also fill believers with great comfort and hope, especially
when the significance of the name is understood—that is, there is a far richer
meaning when one comes to know, intimately, the person represented by
that name. The name itself can serve to remind the faithful that God “will
always be there,” and that “he will fulfill every promise” he has made to his
people in the holy Scriptures. Although we identify the Most High as “YHWH,”
scripturally, it is entirely acceptable and appropriate for Christians to think
of and refer to God as “Our Heavenly Father,” as Jesus himself did and
as he taught his disciples to do. (Matthew 6:9, 26; compare Galatians 4:6). It
should never be overlooked that perhaps one of the most fitting and
unmistakable ways to identify the one true God now is by the apostolic
(divinely authorized) designation found frequently throughout the inspired
Christian writings. He is: “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
...the Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort...” (Romans 15:6, 2
Corinthians 1:2,
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
“O righteous Father, even though the world does not
know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name,[17] and I will continue to make
it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in
them.”
—Jesus Christ, John
17:25, 24, ESV
Some
notable Bible Translations that include the Name of God
1. (ASV) The American Standard
Version 1901 [Jehovah] available at: Baker Book House 2768
“In the Scriptures there is the closest
possible relationship between a person and his name, the two being practically
equivalent, so that to remove the name is to extinguish the person (Numb. 27:4;
Deut. 7:24) To forget God’s name is to depart from Him.”
—Zondervan Pictorical Bible Dictionary, p. 571 (1964)
Insights and Notes on the Divine Name and its
meaning (Ex.
Since, with the exception of Exod. 3:14, the OT itself
makes no attempt to explain the meaning of the Tetragrammaton, it is not
surprising that scholars have been unable to reach agreement on its linguistic
meaning…Some commentators who advocate the imperfect of the simple stem find in
this usage of the verb “to be” the conception of Israel’s God as “the One who
is” ¾namely,
the absolute and unchangeable God. Recent interpreters, however, have sought to
do greater justice to the dynamic, activistic character of Israel’s historical
faith…Many scholars, however, defend the causative interpretation, though
disagreeing on the basic meaning of the verb…The theory which perhaps has
aroused the greatest interest is one which derives the Tetragrammaton from hwh (later form hyh) in the sense of “come to pass, come into being, be” Yahweh
is the one who causes to be what comes to past…The causative meaning. Another
interpretation, which has much to commend it, takes the verb in the causative (Hiph’il)
stem, which is precisely the grammatical form of the word “Yahweh.” On this
view, instead of “I am” we should read “I cause to be.” When the whole
enigmatic formula is changed into the causative, it means: “I cause to be what
comes into existence.” It is conjectured that behind this was an older
formulation in the third person: “He causes to be what comes into existence” (Yahweh
’asher yahweh) ¾i.e., He is the Creator of all. This
interpretation has the merit of putting the accent on Yahweh’s dynamic
lordship: He is the One who causes to be what is (or what happens)¾i.e.,
historical events and natural happenings have their origin in his sovereign
will. In either case, Exod. 3:14 does not give a philosophical definition of
God in terms of eternal, changeless, passive Being, as implied in the LXX
translation [‘I am the being/the existing one’]. Such metaphysical
speculation would have been foreign to
[God] is what He is by virtue of His deeds. That is to
say, you cannot really know Him until you experience Him in your own life…
[the] name is not further explained. Still, Moses makes no additional inquiry,
and we may therefore assume that the name was meaningful to him, or at least he
believed he understood its import. What then was it? Over the centuries a
number of answers have been attempted, though none has won universal
acceptance…Ehyeh is quite evidently the first person singular of the word “to
be”. One problem is that the tense is not clear. It could mean “I am” or “I
will be” (or “I shall be”). This uncertainty is multiplied in the name
Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, for the first Ehyeh might be one tense (for instance, “I
am”) and the second another (for instance, “I will be”), or they might both be
the same tense (“I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be). To add to the
difficulty, Asher could mean either “who or “what.”…The majority of
commentators have understood both occurrences of Ehyeh to convey the future
tense and to mean: “I will be what tomorrow demands,” that is, God emphasizes
that He is capable of responding to human need. This was the message, they say,
Moses was to take back to the enslaved people and thereby assure them that the
God whom they called YHVH was also “Ehyeh,” who would be ready in the near
future to redeem them. ¾The Torah, A Modern
Commentary,
Edited by W. Gurther Plaut (New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations,
1981) p. 405.
I AM WHO I AM (Heb. ’ehyeh ’asher ’ehyeh).
An expression used to explain Yahweh, the covenant name of the God of Israel,
given to Moses when he encountered the burning bush (Exod.
Proper Signification of the Term.—A c[lue] to the real
import of this name appears to be designedly furnished in the passage where it
is most distinctively ascribed to the God of the Hebrews, Exod. iii, 14: “And
God said to Moses, I shall be what I shall be…and he said, Thus shalt
thou say to the children of Israel, The I SHALL BE has sent me to you”
…he shall be, i. e., He that shall be; since this form, if a verb at all, would
be in the Hiphil…and would signify he that shall cause to be, i.e. the Creator…
¾McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical
Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume IV (First published by Harper and
Brothers (1867-1887), Reprinted by Baker Book House) p. 810.
The meaning of the name etymologically is much
disputed. The LXX rendered it by “He who is,” and the V[ul]g[ate] “I am who
am.” There is general agreement that the name is derived from the archaic form
of the verb to be, hawah; but other etymologies proposed are too
numerous for listing. W. F. Albright has interpreted the name as derived from
the causative form and proposes that it is only the first word of the entire
name yahweh- ’aser-yihweh, “He brings into being whatever comes into
being.” The name therefore designates Him as creator, and this etymology is
regarded as most probable by many scholars. ¾McKenzie
Dictionary of the Bible, John L. McKenzie, S.J. (Macmillan Publishing Company. First
Touchstone Edition, 1995) p. 317.
All these explanations [advocating the translation: “I
am that I am”], however, overlook the fact that in Ex
The meaning [of God’s name] is obscured by the
conventional translation I am who I am…The Hebrew verb denotes, not abstract
being, but manifestation in a definite character, or name; and its form
indicates habitual manifestation in past, present, or future. Since English
requires a tense, the best rendering is “I will be as I will be.” The Famous
declaration signifies that God is known in his dynamic confrontation of man and
in man’s active response to God. This truth may well have been apprehended by
Moses and expressed in the development of the divine name with this verbal
sense from an original exclamatory “Yah” or “Yahu.” ¾The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible
(Nashville Abingdon Press, 1971) p. 39.
The translation I am is doubly false: the tense is wrong, being present; and the
idea is wrong because am [in an incorrect translation] is used in the sense of
essential existence. All those interpretations which proceed upon the
supposition that the name is a name of God as the self existent, the absolute,
of which the Septuagint’s ‘ho on’ is the most conspicuous illustration, must be
set aside...the nature of the [Hebrew] verb and the tense pre-emptorily forbid
them.” ¾A. B. Davidson, The Theology
of the Old Testament in “The International Theological Library”,
1920, p.55. (emphasis added)
Properly speaking, this verb hayah never has
the meaning of static being like the copular verb ‘to be.’ Its basic notion is
that of becoming or emerging as such and such, or of coming
into being… ¾Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (footnote), p. 184.
(emphasis added)
[‘The God who is’] The verb in the Hebrew text can be
translated ‘I will be’, and it is possible to understand the formula as
meaning, ‘I will be what I will be’. In the second half of the verse, according
to the Hebrew text, the name used is ‘I am’ (or, ‘I will be’), rather than ‘He
who is.’ ¾Knox,
The Holy Bible (footnote),
A Translation from the Latin Vulgate in the light of the Hebrew and Greek
originals (1956)
The meaning of the divine name (v.12) is
repeated and expanded, God’s freedom from and control of history are denoted by
the phrase, “I will be what I will be.” ¾Oxford Study Edition The New English Bible, ftnt.
Hayah [“to be,” root of “ehyeh”] does not
mean ‘to be essentially or ontologically [i.e., what He is basically or that He
exists], but phenomenally [i.e., what He will do]...it seems that in the view
of the writer “‘ehyeh and yahweh are the same: that God is ‘ehyeh, ‘I will be’
when speaking of himself, and yahweh ‘He will be,’ when spoken of by others.
What he will be is left unexpressed¾He will be with
them, helper, strengthener, deliverer.” ¾Prof. A.B. Davidson, in
We have here a play upon words; ‘Yahweh’ is
interpreted by ’ehyeh. M. Buber translates ‘I will be as I will be’, and
expounds it as a promise of God’s power and enduring presence with them in the
process of deliverance (Moses, pp. 39-55). That something like this is
the purport of these words, which in English sound enigmatical, is shown by
what follows, ‘”Yahweh, the God of your fathers,…has sent me to you”: this is
my name forever’ (v. 15). The full content of the name comes first; the name
itself follows. ¾The Illustrated Bible
Dictionary,
Volume 1 (Wheaton: Tyndale Hose Publishers, 1980) p. 572.
…here God first tells Moses its meaning. ‘Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh,’
probably best translated as “I Will Be What I Will Be,” meaning, “My nature
will become evident from My actions.” (Compare God’s frequent declarations
below, that from His future acts
In Exodus
[Yahweh] replied by linking his name, or rather title,
with the verb to be (hayah). He said ehyeh asher ehyeh, generally
translated “I Am Who (That, What) I Am”, which was the understanding of the
Septuagint, which took it as an affirmation, congenial to Greek thought, of the
immutability of God. It could well be this, though we may question whether such
an essentially philosophical concept suits the time of Moses. Others have seen
it rather as an affirmation of God’s inscrutability, into whose being man
cannot penetrate, and possibly including a rebuke to Moses for his question.
Many leading commentators, from Rashi, a twelfth-century Jewish rabbi, on, have
however pointed out that ehyeh is grammatically far better rendered “I
shall (will) be”, and so render “I will be That (What) I will be”; see margin
of RV, RSV, NEB, TEV, NIV. J.H. Hertz explained the title, “No words can sum up
all that He will be to his people, but will more and more manifest themselves
in the guidance of
Such a translation [in English] as ‘I am
what I am” appears to be ruled out completely by the fact that the [Hebrew]
verbs here are imperfects. “I am” is the normal translation of the Hebrew
perfect, not an imperfect...The translation offered here relates this
explanation of the name to covenants with the patriarchs. As such it was a
basis of assurance concerning Yahweh’s presence and support. This thought is
made explicit in the verse that follows, and the proper name Yahweh, the
memorial name, is made synonymous with the description “I shall continue to be
what I have always been.” This makes the description a restatement of Yahweh’s
faithfulness an assurance that he will fulfill the covenants with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob.” ¾J. Washington
In addition, there is a large debate over the meaning
of this name. It seems related to the Hebrew root
H-Y/V-Y/H (Yod י, He ה, and Waw ו are interchangeable in some cases), which
is used to describe various aspects of being.
Therefore, many scholars have decided that it means something like “I am the
One Who Is”. Appropriate reference points in the Old Testament to start an investigation into
this name include: Genesis
2:4, Exodus
Most moderns follow Rashe [Shelomoh Ben
Yishaq c.1040-1105] in rendering ‘I will be what I will be’ i.e., no words can
sum up all that He will be to His people, but His everlasting faithfulness and
unchanging mercy will more and more manifest themselves in the guidance of
Israel. The answer which Moses receives in these words is thus equivalent to,
‘I shall save in the way that I shall save.’ It is to assure the Israelites of
the fact of deliverance, but does not disclose the manner. ¾J.H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, 1950, ftnt to
Ex.3:14.
Scholars have long noticed the connection
between Exodus 3:14, “I am that I am,” (better translated, “I will be what I
will be”) and Yahweh. The main thrust of “I will be what I will be” was that
God was a covenant God to the Hebrews and, unlike the nations that had a god
for every possible need, God would be for his people whatever they needed. They
needed no God but one. ¾Graeser, Lynn, Schoenheit, One God & One Lord, Reconsidering the
Cornerstone of the Christian Faith, (
This thesis holds Yahwe to be originally a
finite causative verb from the Northwest Semitic root hwy “to be, to
come into being,” so that the divine name would mean “he causes to be, or
exist,” i. e, “he creates.” ¾Unger’s
Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1973)
p.
1177.
Some scholars, however, prefer to take the word as a
future, ‘I will be,’ in which case the name expresses rather the faithfulness
of God, the assurance that He will be with His people as their helper and
deliverer. Others, again, take the word to be the causative form of the verb,
in which case it will mean, ‘He causes to be,’ ‘the Creator’ ¾The One Volume Bible Commentary, edited by Rev. J.
R. Dummelow (New York: The MacMillian Company, 1966) p.
51.
There is a similarity between ’ehye
and YHWH in that two of the consonants (H and H) are identical, and the third
(W) is probably identical. So, what is the meaning of YHWH? It is near
impossible to determine with certainty the etymology of such an ancient word;
we simply do not know! One suggestion is that the name represents the causative
form of haya, meaning, “he causes to be.” This may very well be the
case. Against this, however, it may be argued that a causative form (hiphil) of
haya is unprecedented, and that a third person singular is strange
indeed for the personal name of God. We would have expected “I cause to be”
rather than “he causes to be,” just as we see in the ’ehye (“I will
be”) of the following verse. Because the ehyeh-clause describes
God and YHWH names God, it is not unreasonable to think that there is
some connection between them, but what that connection is may be difficult to
determine, with certainty. ¾Rolf Furuli, The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible
Translation (Huntington Beach: Elihu Books, 1999) p. 243.
First, if God says in Exodus 3:14 “I am who I am” that
involves one speaking of God would say “He is who He is”, but most of the
Hebrew scholars agree, at the present time, that God said “I shall be” and
therefore one would rather say speaking of God “He will be who He will be”.
However the meaning “He will be” (or “He will prove to be”) [will] not allow
finding a vocalization because this meaning is above all a religious
explanation without scientific purpose (grammatical)…Very early etymology
intervened, not to vocalize the divine name again (which was usefulness) but
‘to explain the real sense’ of this name. Indeed, the Hebraic Bible gives an etymological
definition of this name in Exodus
God’s reply [to Moses] in Hebrew was: ’Eh×yeh ’Asher ’Eh×yeh. Some translations render
this as “I AM THAT I AM.” However, it is to be noted that the Hebrew verb ha×yah,
from which the word ’Eh×yeh is drawn, does not simply mean
“be.” Rather, it means “become,” or “prove to be.” The reference here is not to
God’s self-existence but to what he has in mind to become toward others.
Therefore, the New World Translation properly renders the above Hebrew
expression as “I SHAL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE.’ Jehovah thereafter
added: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘I SHALL PROVE TO BE
has sent me to you.’” ¾Ex 3:14, ftn. That this meant no change in
God’s name, but only an additional insight into God’s personality, is seen from
his further words: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah
the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God
of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name to time indefinite, and this is
the memorial of me to generation after generation.” (Ex 3:15; compare Ps
135:13; Ho 12:5) The name Jehovah comes from the Hebrew verb ha×wah’,
“become,” and actually means “He causes to Become.” This reveals Jehovah as the
One who, with progressive action, causes himself to become the Fulfiller of
promises. Thus he always brings his purposes to realization. Only the true God
could rightly and authentically bear such a name. ¾Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, p. 12. (1998)
[Volumes] have been written on the meaning of this Name.
But our best clue is the word for “I am” in this very discussion with Moses.
For God has given his first answer to Moses’ objections the promise, “I will be
with you” (3:12). The word for “I will be” is the same word translated “I am”
and it has the same significance…Furthermore, the name Yahweh is associated
with the fulfillment of his promise. As Yahweh he has promised to bring Israel
out of her misery in Egypt and bring her into the land of the Canaanites. The
repeated “I am YHWH” in this book will continue to emphasize the One who has
come into relationship by covenant with this people and so is committed to
faithfulness to them…Because he is Yahweh, his promise will be fulfilled. He
not only makes covenants, he establishes them by his active intervention. The
sovereign Creator God is able to bring about his purposes as easily through
insignificant persons and incidental events as he is through massive use of
natural forces. Yahweh was present with them even when they did not know it.
God’s sovereign control of circumstances produced deliverance out of the most
calculated oppression… It is then that God must remember because he is Yahweh¾the
one who has promised and the one who will fulfill. It is he who finally causes
all things to work together for his good purposes…The name Yahweh functions as
a guarantee that the reality of God stands behind the promise and will execute
its fulfillment. ¾Albert H. Baylis, From Creation to the Cross, Understanding the First Half of the Bible
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) pp. 103, 105, 111.
The Name Explained. 1. It certainly appears to be
explained in Exodus iii. 14...An Individual Opinion respectfully submitted. (a)
The conclusion formed may be thus expressed : and the formula by which that
significance is sustained and which is rendered into the Authorised Version “I
am that I am,” expresses the sense, “I will become whatsoever I please” ; or,
as more exactly indicating the idiom involved, “I will become whatsoever I may
become.” We amplify the “may,” and more freely suggest the natural latitude
which the idiom claims, by saying : “Whatsoever I will, may or can become.” (b)
The reasons for this conclusion are two: FIRST, that it gives the simplest, most
obvious, most direct force to the derivation of the Name itself, as generally
admitted. Yahweh is almost always regarded as the third person,
singular, masculine, imperfect tense, from the root hawah, an old form
of the root hayah. The one meaning of hawah is “become.” So that
the force of yahweh thus derived, as a verb, would be “He will become”
or, as expressive of use and wont, “He becometh.” Then, passing into use as a
noun, it is ¾“He
who becometh,” “The Becoming One.” That is precisely how any other Hebrew name
would be formed and would yield up its inherent significance. Thus viewed, its
human-like simplicity would be its greatest recommendation…SECOND, the sense of
the formula given above is very simply and idiomatically attained. The formula itself
’ehyeh ’asher ’ehyeh, in which it should be noted that the verb ’eheyh,
“I will become,” runs forward into a reduplication of itself; for it is that
which constitutes the idiom…We thus gain needful countenance for the idiomatic
explication of Exo. iii. 14 : I will become whatsoever I
will-may-can-become…Perhaps the best word on this momentous occasion is : “what
I please,” since we know that the Divine resources are infinite, and that God
will please to become to His people only what is wisest and best. Thus viewed,
the formula becomes a most gracious promise; the Divine capacity of adaptation
to any circumstances, any difficulties, any necessities that may arise, becomes
a veritable bank of faith to such as love God and keep His commandments. The
formula is a promise, the promise is concentrated in a Name. The Name is at
once a revelation, a memorial, a pledge. To this Name, God will ever be
faithful ; of it He will never be ashamed ; by it He may ever be truthfully
proclaimed and gratefully praised. ¾Joseph Bryant Rotherham, Introduction to Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible
(Grand Rapids: Entire Bible published 1902; Kregel Publications, 1994.) pp.
25-28.
Traditional
Protestant/Evangelical scholars have generally objected to the translation and
understanding of God’s words at Exodus 3:14 as advocated (or implied) by the
above scholarship and respective Bible translations (favoring the translation:
‘I AM that/who I AM,’ KJV, NASB). Objections have been cited on the
grounds that ‘I will be/become/prove to be/be there’ “doesn’t make sense,” that
it leads to “open theism,” or “process theology.”[18] However, if such were in fact the intended meaning of God’s words, one
could certainly find sense in such a meaning and it would not need to
imply or involve a so-called “process theology/open theism” by any means. On
the contrary, the implications of such an understanding would reveal YHWH to be
the God who “causes to be what comes to pass (or, into existence; that is, he
is the Creator)” and/or the God who will always be “faithful to his promises.”
It would point to him as the God who would always “be there” for his people,
or, rather “becoming” toward them whatever is necessary, whether that be
Savior, Redeemer, Protector or Deliverer. It would also seem to express and
emphasize that YHWH is in fact a living God, actively involved in
working out his sacred purposes and redemptive intentions with respect to his
people, ultimately, to the glory of his own name; and in light of this, our own
faith in God and in the divine promises are strengthened.
“God said to
Moses, “I-will-be-what-I-will-be: tell the Israelites that I-will-be has sent
you to them.” God also said to Moses, “You must tell the Israelites that the
Eternal [Jehovah], the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent you to them…” ¾The Bible, A New Translation, by James
Moffatt
“And God said to
Moses, “I will be what I will be”; and he said “You are to say to the sons of
Israel ‘Will Be has sent me to you.” And God said to Moses again “You are to
say to the sons of Israel ‘Jehovah, your fathers’ God, Abraham’s God, Isaac’s
God, Jacob’s God, has sent me to you’…” ¾The Bible in Living English
“And God said unto
Moses, I will become whatsoever I please, And he said¾Thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, I Will Become hath sent me
unto you. Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, Yahweh God of your
fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob hath sent me unto you…”
¾Rotherham’s
Emphasized Bible
“Then Elohim [God]
spoke to Moses: I shall come to be just as I am coming to be. And He said: Thus
shall you say to the sons of Israel, I-Shall-Come-to-Be has sent me to you. And
Elohim said further to Moses: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, Yahweh,
the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac and the Elohim of Jacob,
has sent me to you.” ¾Concordant
Version of the Old Testament, The Book of “Exodus,” These are the Names
At this God said
to Moses: I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE.” And he added: “This is what you are to
say to the sons of Israel, ‘I SHALL PROVE TO BE has sent me to you.” “Then God said once
more to Moses: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah the
God of YOUR forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob, has sent me to you.” ¾New World Translation of the
Holy Scriptures, With References
Then Deity said to
Moses, “I will be who I will be.” And he said, “Thus you will say to Israel’s
Sons: ‘I-will be” has sent me to you.’” And Deity further said to Moses, “Thus
you will say to Israel’s Son: ‘Yahweh your father’s deity, Abraham’s deity,
Isaac’s deity and Jacob’s deity¾he has sent time
to you’; this is my name to eternity, and this is my designation age (be) age.”
¾The Anchor Bible, Exodus 1-18, A New Translation with Introduction and
Commentary
“God said unto
Moshe: EHYEH ASHER EHYEH/ I will be-there howsoever I will be-there. And he
said: Thus shall you say to the Children of Israel: EHYEH/ I-Will-Be-There
sends me to you. And God said further to Moshe: Thus shall you say to the
Children of Israel: YHWH, the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God
of Yitzhak, and the God of Yaakov, sends me to you…” ¾The Five Books of Moses, The Shocken Bible,
Translated by Everett Fox
English Bible
translations that relegate the alternative rendering for Exodus 3:14 (‘I will
[prove to] be who/what I will [prove to] be’) in the footnotes include:
The MacArthur Study Bible, Holy Bible, New King James Version (1997) American Standard Version (1901),
Revised Standard Version (1952), New Revised Standard Version (1989),
English Standard Version (2001), New International Version (1984),
New English Bible (1970), Revised English Bible (1989), Amplified
Bible (1964), Today’s English Version (1992), Contemporary
English Version (1995), The Living Bible (1971), New Living
Translation (1996), Knox, The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin
Vulgate in light of the Hebrew and Greek Originals (1956), The Torah,
The Five Books of Moses (Jewish Publication Society, 1992) The Tanakh, A
New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text
(JPS, 1985)
*************** YHWH ***************
“This is my name to times age-abiding,
And this my memorial to generation after
generation.
Praise ye Yah
For good is Yahweh,
Sing praises to his name.
For it is sweet.
Praise Yahweh, all ye nations,
Laud him, all ye tribes of men;
For his loving kindness hath prevailed over us,
And the faithfulness of Yahweh is to times
age-abiding…”
Exo. iii. 15; Ps. cxxv.3; Ps. cxii. Cp.
Jer.xxxii.27.
¾Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible
[1] McKenzie Dictionary of
the Bible, p. 316.
[2] Some other suggested forms for the original
pronunciation of the divine name include: ‘Yahowah,’ ‘Yehwah’,
‘Yehaweh’, ‘Yehayeh’, ‘Yehova’, ‘Yahovah,’ ‘Yahuweh’, and ‘Yahaveh’.
[3] Preface to the American
Translation, p. 15
[4] The form “Jehovah,” however, is not an attempt to
recover the correct pronunciation of the Hebrew; it is an anglicized (English)
form or expression of the divine name.
[5] Graiser, Lynn, Schoenheit, One
God & One Lord, Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith, p. 326. ([CES] Christian Educational Services)
(emphasis added)
[6] p. 49
[7] p. 23
[8] Preface to the American
Standard Version, p.4 (emphasis added)
[9] The One Volume Bible
Commentary, edited by J.R. Dummelow, p.
51.
[10] Unger’s Bible Dictionary,
p. 1177.
[11] Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia
[12] Today’s Dictionary of the
Bible, pp. 330-331 (emphasis added)
[13] The International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p.
1254, 1267.
[14] Young’s Literal Translation
[15] See: The New Bible
Dictionary, J.D. Douglas, p. 431.
[16] From the article: What Can I Do? by Commentary
Press
[17] “I made known to them your name”
does not simply mean “I have (merely) made your label for identification
known.” The “name” here must represent who
God is and everything he stands for in relation to his people; as NIV puts it, “I have made you known to them.”
[18] Objections may also have had to do with reluctance to
abandon the desired connection between Exodus 3:14 and Jesus’ statement at John
8:58, which has been held by many evangelicals for a long time to be a proof
text for Jesus’ identity with Jehovah God.