Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryan Rocine" <596547 AT ican.net>]

B-Haverim,

i'm not sure of the plainest way to say "i am what i am" in BH.  maybe 'ani
'ani  (which is more like "I am me") or 'ani 'ani hu' (Deu 32:39) using the
"hu'-copulative" or maybe
'ani 'a$er 'ani  or maybe 'ani 'a$er 'ehyeh.  for this last, we might cite
Gen 42:14, 44:10, 2 Ki 18:22 as approximately analogous
grammatically speaking, some more and some less.  i think these are a few
cases as per request: an 'a$er-clause functions as the predicate for an
independent subject pronoun.

the plainest way to say "i will be what i will be" is 'ani 'ehyeh 'a$er
'ehyeh.  notice the use of the independent subject pronoun before the first
'ehyeh.  it's not that the pronoun is needed, exactly, but that the
yiqtol(prefixed) verb form "should not" be in the clause-initial position
in a future indicative meaning.  at least we think so in prose.  the
pronoun 'ani "bumps" the verb from the clause-initial position.

of course, we have neither of these two cases exactly in Exo 3:14. the
first 'ehyeh is clause-initial which, according to Revell(1989) and
Niccacci(1990) is only the case for a volitional yiqtol. the meaning would
therefore be "I intend to be what I will be," and i take it as YHWH's
expression of His own sovereignity and omnipotence.  another translation
possibility would be to use the archaic sense of English *shall*: "I shall
be what I will be."  i wouldn't take it to mean "i intend to be whatever i
need to be" or "i intend to be whatever the situation dictates i should
be."   more like "what i will be is nothing other than what i intend to
be."

Shalom,
Bryan




----------
> From: Peter_Kirk AT sil.org
> To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> Subject: Re[2]: I AM THAT I AM
> Date: Thursday, December 24, 1998 11:00 AM
> 
> Does 'ani 'asher 'ani really mean "I am that I am"? When we discussed 
> Joel 3:5 recently the same question arose: can a relative clause with 
> 'asher (and no other marking) be the complement to an implied copula? 
> No-one came up with any unambiguous example from the actual text. 
> Normally a relative clause following a noun (or pronoun ??) is an 
> attribute rather than a predicate. On this basis 'ani 'asher 'ani 
> would mean "I, who am". Perhaps if we really want a continuous present 
> we need a participle (cf. Randy Buth's recent examples and Exo. 9:3): 
> 'ani hoye 'asher 'ani. But then our attempts to translate back into 
> ancient Hebrew quickly become even more speculative than those 
> examples.
> 
> Peter Kirk
> 
> 
> 
> 
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