Talk:I Am that I Am

ZERO. SENSE.

This article makes linguistically zero sense. Absolutely no sense at all. Could someone who actually knows Hebrew have a look into it? - Cymydog Naakka 21:27, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I, too, am puzzled. For example, I read

... 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 וְ־‎, ...

First, semantically, I would expect completed action to be past and incomplete action future. More authoritatively, the description in this lesson on the verb aspects is quite different. Bn (talk) 12:58, 17 September 2023 (UTC)

That site seems to be a bit simplistic, both as regards Hebrew and as regards English; I'd recommend looking at actual Hebrew grammar texts. While in modern Hebrew the perfect aspect is used as a past tense and the imperfect aspect is used as a future tense, it is still posssible to refer to actions that will be completed in the furture and to past actions prior to their completion.

Probably the most confusing aspect of Biblical Hebrew is the וי״ו ההיפוך, (Vav hiphuch transl. he – transl. reversig Vav), which switches the roles of the aspects and which looks the same as the use of Vav as a conjunction when the text is unpointed. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk)

Ah, yes, I see that is what is going on here, and this use of vav is mentioned even on that simplistic site so I should have seen it. Thanks. Bn (talk) 01:19, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

How Assyrians (aramaic speaking minority) interpret the phrase

I am Assyrian (a large minority) and I read and write aramaic. I want to let you know that this is an actual interpretation by Assyrians who speak aramaic.

Response to dbratton

Hello dbratton,

Thank you for your response, which has helped to clarify the position for me. In fairness, however, I must point out that the links I made were not at all indiscriminate. On the contrary, they were very carefully selected, and made only because the content of my website is highly relevant to the subjects of those articles. I do accept that my website is ‘personal’, but, as I have pointed out, it is also highly scholarly and extensively referenced, and both objective and reasonable in those parts of it that are necessarily speculative. These features do at least put the reader in a position to make up their minds up for themselves. Moreover, so far as I am aware there is no other source in any medium where this information is brought together and analysed to the same extent and with the same objectivity as it is on my site. However, I do accept that the second part of the website is almost entirely my own analysis and elucidation of the meaning of Exodus 3:14.

I will certainly consider your suggestion of making a contribution to the relevant articles, and would of course restrict that contribution to facts and source materials.

All the best,

K J Cronin

"I approve this"

This whole misunderstanding, that Dr. Cronin was spamming and all the hilarity that ensued put aside, I think Cronin has a point there. As this article doesn't offer that much, and he wrote up an objective view about it in more detail, why not give it more room? Incorporate new ideas you agree with, in consensus, to this article - thus improving it!

-- 420, greets from a'dam

No future tense in Biblical Hebrew?

Biblical Hebrew has future tense. "Ehyeh" is unambiguous future tense "I will be". There is no *present* tense of the verb "to be" in Hebrew. "I am what I am" would be "Ani Asher Ani" 192.96.64.114 (talk) 21:20, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

Biblical Hebrew has aspects rather than tenses.

Modern Hebrew uses the perfective aspect as a past tense, adjective and noun forms as present tense, and imperfective aspect as future tense.

Modern Hebrew does have to be, with no direct object, in the present tense, e.g., הוֹוֶה (hoveh), קַיָּם (kayam). --Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 12:34, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

I am that, I am.

But, who's to say it isn't "I am that, I am." or then "I am, that I am." ? Stjohn1970 (talk) 11:29, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

The word אֲשֶׁר (asher)) is a conjunction (that/which/who), so I don't see any way to justify a comma in the translation. --Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 12:46, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Ehyeh means this.. then who is Ehyeh in wiki???

My concern and search Ehyeh Abinaya (talk) 19:33, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

1 Corinthians 15

I would like to know what scholar connects Paul's phrase "I am what I am" in 1 Corinthians with the divine name in Exodus. Thanks 128.139.225.245 (talk) 20:19, 28 January 2023 (UTC)