Biblical Hebrew Forum

["David Stabnow" <dstabno AT lifeway.com>]

Greg Stafford wrote, in part: "How would you translate 'ANI 'EHYEH?"

I would translate it as an incomplete predication, "I will be ..."  The
reader expects a predicate nominative.  Without it, the clause is
ontological, and BH does not use _HYH_ that way.  The _ANI_ is an explicit
subject, which functions merely to emphasize the subject (perhaps for
comparison or contrast -- see 2 Sam 13:13), or to introduce the subject as
a new topic.

A search for the first person singular pronoun followed by a YIQTOL verb
shows 135 occurrences, 18 of which are _HYH_; e. g., Exod 4:12 -- _W(NKY
)HYH (M-PYK_ "and I will be with your mouth."  Any personal pronoun
followed by the YIQTOL of _HYH_ occurs 51 times (after eliminating 14 false
hits with _BYWM HHW)_ "in that day" preceding the verb).  The object of the
_HYH_ clause is almost always marked with lamed or _(M_.  That is, the
speaker is saying that he will be "with" someone, or "as" something "for"
someone (see Exod 4:16).  Exceptions: Job 3:7; 1 Chr 11:2; 22:9 (but see v.
10!).

(first person singular pronouns precede YIQTOL of _HYH_ -- Exod 4:12, 15;
Deut 31:23; Judg 11:9; 1 Sam 23:17; 2 Sam 7:14; Jer 11:4; 24:7; 30:22;
32:38; Ezek 11:20; 14:11; 36:28; 27:23; Zech 2:9; 8:8; 1 Chr 17:13; 28:6)

(any personal pronoun follows YIQTOL of _HYH_ -- Gen 47:19; Ezek 38:9; Mal
3:12.  Only Ezek marks the object with lamed)

Therefore, _)NY )HYH_ is not a suitable way to communicate a name, because
there would be nothing to tell the hearer that _)HYH_ is the predicate of a
verbless sentence.  The hearer would interpret it as a verbal sentence,
expect an object, perhaps marked by lamed, and would think that the object
is missing.  Now, admittedly, any way that one tries to express one's
self-identity as a verb, one is going to stretch the conventions of
language.  So perhaps _)NY )HYH_ would be one possible way of doing that.
But the Lord chose a different way to stretch the conventions of language.

I wonder why YHWH didn't use _QR)_ to inform Moses of His Name?  Perhaps
because it is more than a name (though He uses it like a name in 3:14b).

Dave Stabnow