What does "I AM THAT I AM" mean in Exodus 3:14?

Whosoever Will, The Name He Gave a Fugitive: The Hebrew is ehyeh, the first-person form of the verb hayah, to be. And here is the thing worth slowing down for: Biblical Hebrew does not have tenses the way English does. It has aspect, completed or incomplete, which means ehyeh legitimately carries “I am,” “I will be,” and “I go on being,” all at once. That is why your translations disagree. Some say “I AM THAT I AM.” Some say “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.” Both are honest attempts at a verb that refuses to sit still in time. The name is tied directly to the four letters behind the word LORD in your Old Testament, YHWH, the name so holy that Jewish scribes would not pronounce it. Ehyeh, “I am,” is a wordplay on Yahweh, “He is.” When God speaks His own name it is first-person, I AM. When you speak it, it becomes third-person, He is. Either way it says the same thing: this One simply is, underived, uncaused, dependent on nothing, the only being in the universe who exists by nature of what He is rather than because something else made Him. Scripture, King James Version: Exodus 3:14, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.".

Verified. Every scripture quotation on this page has been checked word-for-word against the King James text. Last reviewed 2026-10-18.

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What does "I AM THAT I AM" mean in Exodus 3:14? → wsb.bible/answers/what-does-i-am-that-i-am-mean-in-exodus-3-14

This answer is the short form. The argument is made at length in The Name He Gave a Fugitive: What the Name Actually Says.

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