Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, April 30th, 2025
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

Exodus 3:14

And God said to him, I AM WHAT I AM: and he said, Say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God Continued...;   I Am That I Am;   Israel;   Moses;   Prophets;   Religion;   Revelation;   Scofield Reference Index - Deity;   Thompson Chain Reference - I Am;   Names;   Titles and Names;   The Topic Concordance - God;   Name;   Sending and Those Sent;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Titles and Names of Christ;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Angel of the Lord;   God;   Jehovah;   Sinai;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Exodus, book of;   God;   Jesus christ;   Moses;   Name;   Priest;   Yahweh;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Covenant;   God;   God, Name of;   God, Names of;   Jeremiah, Theology of;   Jesus Christ, Name and Titles of;   Magic;   Memorial;   Miracle;   Proverbs, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Eternity of God;   Frugality;   God;   Jesus Christ;   Name of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Jehovah;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Angels;   Genesis, the Book of;   God;   Jehovah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Call, Calling;   Christ, Christology;   Divine Freedom;   Godhead;   I Am;   Image of God;   Immutability of God;   Incarnation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Enosh;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Israel;   Prayer;   Sinai;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Alpha and Omega;   Alpha and Omega (2);   First and Last ;   Necessity;   Numbers (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Angels;   God;   1910 New Catholic Dictionary - god, names of;   alpha and omega;   names of god;   omega, alpha and;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Christ;   Rod;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jehovah;   Names titles and offices of christ;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Angels;   God;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Law;   Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Exodus, the;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Faithful;   Genesis;   God;   God, Names of;   Israel, Religion of;   Law in the Old Testament;   Moses;   Name;   Unchangeable;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Abba Bar Memel;   Didascalia;   Elohist;   God;   Jabez, Joseph ben ḥayyim;   Judaism;   Names of God;   Sinai, Mount;   Tetragrammaton;   Yiẓḥaḳ Bar Redifa;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for November 3;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
God said to Moshe, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Yisra'el this: "I AM has sent me to you."
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
And God said to Moses, "I am that I am." And he said, "So you must say to the Israelites, ‘I am sent me to you.'"
New Century Version
Then God said to Moses, " I am who I am . When you go to the people of Israel, tell them, ‘ I am sent me to you.'"
New English Translation
God said to Moses, " I am that I am ." And he said, "You must say this to the Israelites, ‘ I am has sent me to you.'"
Amplified Bible
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "You shall say this to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
New American Standard Bible
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
Geneva Bible (1587)
And God answered Moses, I Am That I Am. Also he said, Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me vnto you.
Legacy Standard Bible
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'"
Contemporary English Version
God said to Moses: I am the eternal God. So tell them that the Lord , whose name is "I Am," has sent you. This is my name forever, and it is the name that people must use from now on.
Complete Jewish Bible
God said to Moshe, "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh [I am/will be what I am/will be]," and added, "Here is what to say to the people of Isra'el: ‘Ehyeh [I Am or I Will Be] has sent me to you.'"
Darby Translation
And God said to 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.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then God said to Moses, "Tell them, ‘ I Am Who I Am .' When you go to the Israelites, tell them, ‘ I Am ' sent me to you."
English Standard Version
God said to Moses, " I am who I am ." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel: ‘ I am has sent me to you.'"
George Lamsa Translation
And God said to Moses, I am AHIAH ASHAR HIGH (that is, THE LIVING GOD); and he said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: AHIAH has sent me to you.
Good News Translation
God said, "I am who I am. You must tell them: ‘The one who is called I Am has sent me to you.'
Christian Standard Bible®
God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”
Literal Translation
And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and He said, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
God saide vnto Moses: I wyl be what I wyll be. And he sayde: Thus shalt thou saye vnto ye children of Israel: I wyl he hath sent me vnto you.
American Standard Version
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.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And God aunswered Moyses: I am that I am. And he said: This shalt thou say vnto the chyldren of Israel, I am, hath sent me vnto you.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
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.'
King James Version (1611)
And God saide vnto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: And he said, Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me vnto you.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And God spoke to Moses, saying, I am THE BEING; and he said, Thus shall ye say to the children of Israel, THE BEING has sent me to you.
English Revised Version
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.
Berean Standard Bible
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord seide to Moises, Y am that am. The Lord seide, Thus thou schalt seie to the sones of Israel, He that is sente me to you.
Young's Literal Translation
And God saith unto Moses, `I AM THAT WHICH I AM;' He saith also, `Thus dost thou say to the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.'
Update Bible Version
And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.
Webster's Bible Translation
And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: And he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me to you.
World English Bible
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: "I AM has sent me to you."
New King James Version
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'
New Living Translation
God replied to Moses, " I am who i am . Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you."
New Life Bible
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'"
New Revised Standard
God said to Moses, "I am who I am ." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.'"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And God said unto Moses, I Will Become whatsoever I please, And he said - Thus, shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, I Will Become hath sent me unto you.
Douay-Rheims Bible
God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you.
Revised Standard Version
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
THE MESSAGE
God said to Moses, "I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.'"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Contextual Overview

11 And Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Truly I will be with you; and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have taken the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will give worship to God on this mountain. 13 And Moses said to God, When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you: and they say to me, What is his name? what am I to say to them? 14 And God said to him, I AM WHAT I AM: and he said, Say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. 15 And God went on to say to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my sign to all generations.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I AM hath: Exodus 6:3, Job 11:7, Psalms 68:4, Psalms 90:2, Isaiah 44:6, Matthew 18:20, Matthew 28:20, John 8:58, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Hebrews 13:8, Revelation 1:4, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 1:17, Revelation 4:8

Reciprocal: Exodus 3:6 - I am Exodus 3:13 - What is his name Exodus 23:21 - my name Deuteronomy 28:58 - fear this glorious Psalms 50:21 - that I was altogether such an one as thyself Psalms 102:26 - endure Proverbs 17:6 - and the Jeremiah 33:2 - the Lord Amos 9:6 - The Lord Micah 4:5 - the name Malachi 3:6 - I am John 5:26 - hath life Acts 7:34 - And now 2 Corinthians 1:19 - was not 1 Timothy 6:16 - only Hebrews 1:12 - but

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden?
Genesis 3:15
And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.
Genesis 3:20
And the man gave his wife the name of Eve because she was the mother of all who have life.
Genesis 9:6
Whoever takes a man's life, by man will his life be taken; because God made man in his image.
Leviticus 20:25
So then, make division between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the clean bird and the unclean: do not make yourselves disgusting by any beast or bird or anything which goes flat on the earth, which has been marked by me as unclean for you.
Psalms 72:9
Let those who are against him go down before him; and let his haters be low in the dust.
Isaiah 29:4
And you will be made low, and your voice will come out of the earth, and your words will be low out of the dust; and your voice will come out of the earth like that of a spirit, making bird-like noises out of the dust.
Isaiah 65:25
The wolf and the lamb will take their food together, and the lion will make a meal of grass like the ox: but dust will be the snake's food. There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Micah 7:17
They will take dust as their food like a snake, like the things which go flat on the earth; they will come shaking with fear out of their secret places: they will come with fear to the Lord our God, full of fear because of you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And God said unto Moses, I am that I am,.... This signifies the real being of God, his self-existence, and that he is the Being of beings; as also it denotes his eternity and immutability, and his constancy and faithfulness in fulfilling his promises, for it includes all time, past, present, and to come; and the sense is, not only I am what I am at present, but I am what I have been, and I am what I shall be, and shall be what I am. The Platonists and Pythagoreans seem to have borrowed their το ον from hence, which expresses with them the eternal and invariable Being; and so the Septuagint version here is

ο ων: it is said z, that the temple of Minerva at Sais, a city of Egypt, had this inscription on it,

"I am all that exists, is, and shall be.''

And on the temple of Apollo at Delphos was written ει, the contraction of ειμι, "I am" a. Our Lord seems to refer to this name, John 8:58, and indeed is the person that now appeared; and the words may be rendered, "I shall be what I shall be" b the incarnate God, God manifest in the flesh:

thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you; or as the Targum of Jonathan has it,

"I am he that is, and that shall be.''

This is the name Ehjeh, or Jehovah, Moses is empowered to make use of, and to declare, as the name of the Great God by whom he was sent; and which might serve both to encourage him, and strengthen the faith of the Israelites, that they should be delivered by him.

z Phutarch. de Iside & Osir. a Plato in Timaeo. b אהיה אשר אהיה "ero qui ero", Pagninus, Montanus, Fagius, Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I am that I am - That is, “I am what I am.” The words express absolute, and therefore unchanging and eternal Being. The name, which Moses was thus commissioned to use, was at once new and old; old in its connection with previous revelations; new in its full interpretation, and in its bearing upon the covenant of which Moses was the destined mediator.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 3:14. I AM THAT I AM — אהיה אשר אהיה EHEYEH asher EHEYEH. These words have been variously understood. The Vulgate translates EGO SUM QUI SUM, I am who am. The Septuagint, Εγω ειμι ὁ Ων, I am he who exists. The Syriac, the Persic, and the Chaldee preserve the original words without any gloss. The Arabic paraphrases them, The Eternal, who passes not away; which is the same interpretation given by Abul Farajius, who also preserves the original words, and gives the above as their interpretation. The Targum of Jonathan, and the Jerusalem Targum paraphrase the words thus: "He who spake, and the world was; who spake, and all things existed." As the original words literally signify, I will be what I will be, some have supposed that God simply designed to inform Moses, that what he had been to his fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he would be to him and the Israelites; and that he would perform the promises he had made to his fathers, by giving their descendants the promised land. It is difficult to put a meaning on the words; they seem intended to point out the eternity and self-existence of God. Plato, in his Parmenides, where he treats sublimely of the nature of God, says, Ουδ' αρα ονομα εστιν αυτῳ, nothing can express his nature; therefore no name can be attributed to him. See the conclusion of this chapter, Exodus 3:22. and on the word Jehovah, Exodus 34:6; Exodus 34:7.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile