Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 12/09/2005 21:08, Read, James C wrote:

> ...
>
> The major problem with the translation of ehyeh asher ehyeh is the common supposition that 
> one word should be translated with one word. And thus the debate has become 'I am who I am' 
> vs' 'I will be what I will be'. However, the translators of the LXX evidently did not feel 
> so bound to such one to one translation techniques. They tried to capture the essence of 
> the phrase by translating as EYO EIMI HO WN = I'm eternal/immortal.
>  

This is not what LXX means. ὤν WN (omega-nu) is simply the present 
participle of EIMI "to be". So Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν EGO EIMI hO WN simply means 
"I am the being one", or, as Greek participles are commonly equivalent 
to English (and presumably Hebrew) relative clauses, "I am who I am". 
This is of course rather good evidence that the Hebrew probably means "I 
am who I am", and is certainly evidence for a present tense 
interpretation of the Hebrew.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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