Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Pere:

I would have to disagree with you. The Hebrew verb does not indicate
temporal information, rather modal, in this case, volitional.

I would translate this as “I am that I am” with a note explaining that the
actual translation would be a present tense “I will be that I will be” where
“will” indicates volition, not tense; indicating that God is Lord and that
there is no one who puts restrictions on him. Therefore we are to dance to
his tune, not ours.

As for Ruth 2:13, again I read those as present tense verbs, not future. The
yiqtol verbs in the sentences are subordinate to the qatal verbs.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 10:43 PM, Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com> wrote:

> Strictly speaking this means "I will be". But it is often translated as a
> present ---> look at Ruth 2:13 because the context advises this.
>
> Pere Porta
> (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain)
>
>