Can someone please explain where "I am" comes from in the understanding of Ex 3:14?

Author: rosends

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fauxlaw
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@rosends
Consider that, again, the germane conversation took place 15th century BCE, and the oldest extant Greek texts [the Septuagint] to which Mopac refers, date from about 300 BCE let alone ancient Hebrew allegedly written by Moses, 1,200 years before, of which we have no sample at all [our best source is about 800 BCE], you will be unsuccessful to discover an original source, Greek or Hebrew, from which to draw the translation variance - if there is one - you seek.

Further, please understand that translation, language to language, is made more difficult by the fact that culture begets language. If an alleged translator does not understand the ancient culture from which translation is done, the translation will be flawed. Translation is, more than anything else, a dictionary-to-dictionary effort. Dictionaries do a historically poor job of teaching culture. Therefore, the translation, even by an expert linguist, so to speak, may be flawed if that linguist lacks a firm understanding of the translation-from culture, or his own, for that matter. Add to that the guesswork that will always be a factor for that lack, or, in fact, an alternate motivation to accurate translation if the translator seeks to deceive. It happens. Add the factor of still another translation from the Greek to English, for example, and you've just doubled, at least, your translation woes. I speak and read four languages fluently, plus a fluency in reading Egyptian hieroglyphs, so the above is not mere theory.
Mopac
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@rosends
To us, there is only one church. The Orthodox Church. The Roman Catholics and Protestants are considered heterodox by us. 

We are the original church though.

We also teach real Christianity. Can't vouch for these other churches.
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@fauxlaw
If I am understanding your statement correctly, you are positing that there is another text behind all the versions we have and since we don't know that original text said, we can't know which of the variants we have today represents that original best. OK, thanks.
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@Mopac
I'll take your word for that, and their word for whatever they say if they say it. I worry about my religion and try not to hang my hat on rules and issues endemic to other groups.
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@rosends
The church is an object of faith for us, so we can't really admit the validity of other churches. The ancient creed states, "I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church".

That isn't to say they can't express truths, but they aren't with us. We don't really share the same faith.



fauxlaw
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@rosends
Yes, that is the sense of what I'm saying.

603 days later

Shila
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@rosends
I have seen the phrase used to point to God. I can't find a source/explanation for the phrase other than the KJV, but the KJV seems inconsistent in how it translates the corresponding Hebrew word (in Judges 6:16, as one example, it translates the same word "will be"). So what is the source for the decision to use "I am" in Ex 3:14? Is it in order to connect to the John 8:58 use of the word "eimi" in the Greek?

The Hebrew words in Exodus 3:14 for “I AM THAT I AM” are ehyeh asher ehyeh which should more accurately be translated “I will be what I will be” or as Rotherham translates it, “I will become whatsoever I may become.”  This expression in Exodus 3:14 is an idiom, an expression that has a meaning that cannot be understood by the individual words.  So, what does “I AM THAT I AM” mean?

“I AM THAT I AM” 
The statement "I AM" comes from the Hebrew verb "to be or to exist." With this statement, God declared that He is self-existent, eternal, self-sufficient, self-directed, and unchanging. But this statement also declared that He is present.

From the statement "I AM WHO I AM" (spelled he, yod, he in Hebrew) in verse 14, God formed a holy proper name, Yahweh (spelled yod, he, vav, he in Hebrew), in verse 15.
rosends
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@Shila
your cut and paste material is wrong
 the statement "I AM WHO I AM" (spelled he, yod, he in Hebrew)
that spelling means "I was"

there is no present tense "I am" in Hebrew as a stand alone form of the to-be verb.
Shila
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@rosends
--> @Shila
your cut and paste material is wrong
 the statement "I AM WHO I AM" (spelled he, yod, he in Hebrew)
that spelling means "I was"

there is no present tense "I am" in Hebrew as a stand alone form of the to-be verb.
Here is proof even between Jews interpreting their scriptures there is disagreement.

I have seen the phrase used to point to God. I can't find a source/explanation for the phrase other than the KJV, but the KJV seems inconsistent in how it translates the corresponding Hebrew word (in Judges 6:16, as one example, it translates the same word "will be"). So what is the source for the decision to use "I am" in Ex 3:14? Is it in order to connect to the John 8:58 use of the word "eimi" in the Greek?

The Hebrew words in Exodus 3:14 for “I AM THAT I AM” are ehyeh asher ehyeh which should more accurately be translated “I will be what I will be” or as Rotherham translates it, “I will become whatsoever I may become.”  This expression in Exodus 3:14 is an idiom, an expression that has a meaning that cannot be understood by the individual words.  So, what does “I AM THAT I AM” mean?

“I AM THAT I AM”
The statement "I AM" comes from the Hebrew verb "to be or to exist." With this statement, God declared that He is self-existent, eternal, self-sufficient, self-directed, and unchanging. But this statement also declared that He is present.

From the statement "I AM WHO I AM" (spelled he, yod, he in Hebrew) in verse 14, God formed a holy proper name, Yahweh (spelled yod, he, vav, he in Hebrew), in verse 15.

rosends
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@Shila
where do you show any disagreement between Jews? Your quote (which had the error) was from "Chicago Bible Students" which isn't a Jewish site.
Shila
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@rosends
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where do you show any disagreement between Jews? Your quote (which had the error) was from "Chicago Bible Students" which isn't a Jewish site.
America has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.

Hebrew translators are used in Bible classes.