Biblical Hebrew Forum

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There is no grammatical or linguistic reason to translate Ehyeh as "I am" at Exodus 3:12 OR 3:14.  All the justifications I have read have been, ultimately, theological.

If it is true, according to some traditions, that the Torah portion of the LXX was translated with non-Jews in mind, that may well explain why it does not give a literal translation for Ehyeh-asher-ehyeh, but rather an interpretation to suit the Greek mind.  When the Torah was later translated into Greek for Jews by Aquila and Theodotion in the 2nd century, Ehyeh at Exodus 3:14 was given in Greek as "esomai,"  i.e., "I will be."

Solomon Landers

Shoshanna Walker wrote:

> > On Hebrew Grammar
> >
> > On the fact that the same word is used AS a future tense word in other
> > places in the Torah
>
> But not always or only as future.  The prefix conjugation serves
> both purposes.
 

Please, then cite an example from some OTHER place in the Torah, where
"Ehyeh" is not future

In the very same chapter, Exodus 3:12  Ehyeh is definitely used in the
future tense.  It is not characteristic of the Torah to be careless about
the words, and combinations of letters used - rather the opposite.

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