I Am that I Am
Yahweh's answer to Moses upon being asked for his name in Exodus 3:14
"I Am that I Am" is a common English translation of the Hebrew phrase אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye; pronounced [ʔehˈje ʔaˈʃer ʔehˈje]), which appears in the Hebrew Bible (book of Exodus 3:14). The phrase is also translated as "I am who I am", "I am that (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".
Etymology
אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye) is the first of three responses given to Moses when he asks for God's name in Exodus 3:13-15. The word אֶהְיֶה (’Ehyeh) is the first person singular imperfective form of הָיָה (hayah), 'to be', and owing to the peculiarities of Hebrew grammar can mean both 'I am' and 'I will be'. The meaning of the longer phrase ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh is debated, and might be seen as a promise ('I will be with you') or as statement of incomparability ('I am without equal').
Grammatical tense in Biblical Hebrew was purely aspectual rather than temporal; that is to say, verbs did not morphologically indicate when they happened, only whether they were complete. The perfect tense denoted any actions that have been completed, and imperfect denoted any actions that are not yet completed. Additionally, if a verb form was prefixed by וַ- (wa-), its aspect was inverted; a verb conjugated in the imperfect and prefixed by וַ- would read as the perfect, while a verb conjugated in the perfect and prefixed by וַ- would read as the imperfect. The word אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh) is the first-person singular imperfect form of hayah, 'to be', which in Modern Hebrew indicates the future tense 'I will be'; however, it lacks the prefix וַ- which would necessitate this reading in Biblical Hebrew.
In English, it is necessary to attach a time to a verb, so ehyeh must be forced into one possible meaning in translation.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “I Am that I Am” is yahweh's answer to Moses upon being asked for his name in Exodus 3:14. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Yahweh's, answer and Moses, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3307521. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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