“I Am.” The Moment God Answered a Question With a Verb
It all starts with a question. Moses, standing barefoot in front of a burning bush, asks God for a name. Not out of curiosity, but practicality.
“When I go to your people and they ask who sent me, what should I say?” (Exodus 3:13)
This was God’s answer:
“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.” (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה)
Often translated, “I Am Who I Am.”
It’s a strange response. One that leaves scholars, theologians, and Bible readers everywhere intrigued. Why answer with a verb?
The word “Ehyeh” (אֶהְיֶה) comes from the ancient Hebrew root הָיָה (hayah), which means “to be,” “to exist,” or “to become.” So God’s answer is essentially built around being itself. He’s saying:
- I Am Who I Am
- Or: I Will Be What I Will Be
- Or even: I Exist as I Exist
And then God shifts the form. He tells Moses, “Tell the Israelites: YHWH (יהוה) has sent me to you.”
That name "YHWH" is built from the very same root. But here it’s in the third person form. While Ehyeh means “I Am,” YHWH means “He Is.”
Why the switch? Moses can’t walk up to the people and say, “I Am sent me.” That would be… confusing. So God translates His own self-description into a form people can use when talking about Him.
From a linguistic point of view, it’s brilliant. From a spiritual point of view, it’s something else entirely: a name that both reveals and withholds. One that affirms presence, yet maintains mystery.
For Moses (and for the rest of us), it’s a reminder that knowing God doesn’t start with a label. It starts with an encounter. A voice from the fire. A verb in the wilderness.
Some scholars even suggest the name YHWH may mimic the sound of breathing: “Yah-weh.” A name spoken every time we inhale and exhale. A reminder that the God who is… simply is. Always. Everywhere. In every breath.
Some even believe that the name YHWH is impossible to pronounce, or at least, its true pronunciation has been lost to time. Over centuries, Jewish tradition chose reverence over repetition, opting never to speak the name aloud.
This means that even when we try to say “Yahweh” today (and, to be fair, this particular pronunciation is the subject of much debate and controversy), we’re working with educated guesses. The original sound remains a divine mystery.
The Sacred Silence Around YHWH
You’d think a name that appears over 6,000 times in the Hebrew Bible would be one people are comfortable saying. But that’s the thing about the tetragamaton YHWH, the more central it is, the less it’s spoken.
Over time, Jewish tradition made a bold and reverent choice: stop saying the name out loud altogether. Not because it was erased or forgotten, but because it was too holy to risk getting wrong.
So, whenever readers came across YHWH in the scrolls, they would substitute it with “Adonai” (אֲדֹנָי), which means “Lord.” Or, in everyday conversation, simply say “HaShem”(הָשֵׁם), a.k.a. “The Name.”
Representation of a scroll with the transliterated version of the name of god (image generated with Midjourney)
What Of The True Pronunciation?
That’s where it gets mystical. Because Hebrew originally didn’t include vowels, we don’t know for certain how YHWH was pronounced. “Yahweh” is the scholarly front-runner based on linguistic reconstructions and ancient name patterns. But it’s still a best guess.
There’s also “Jehovah,” which came from a later mix of YHWH’s consonants and the vowels of “Adonai”. It’s well-meaning but overall an incorrect (as far as we know) hybrid that stuck around in Western Christianity.
So what are we left with, really?
Silence. Substitution. And reverence.
But maybe that’s the point. The refusal to speak the name doesn’t diminish it, but preserves its weight. It’s a name meant to be lived with, not merely spoken. A name that invites awe, not control.
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Always Was, Always Will Be
So if YHWH means “He Is,” what exactly is He saying about Himself?
God isn’t offering a job title. He’s revealing an identity. One that’s bigger than time, place, or even language. The tetragrammaton HWH anchors God in something far more profound than function. It roots Him in being itself.
In Hebrew, the verb behind the name - הָיָה (hayah) - doesn’t just mean “to be.” It can also mean “to become” or “to come into being.” That opens up a fascinating theological thread: Is God saying He is, as in constant and unchanging? Or that He becomes, always unfolding, always present in new ways? The answer is probably both.
However, the most straightforward reading is that YHWH expresses eternal existence. He was, He is, and He will be, a presence that doesn’t shift with kings, crises, or cultures.
This shows up all over Scripture. In Isaiah, God says, “I, the LORD, do not change” (Malachi 3:6). In Revelation, He’s called the “Alpha and Omega.” And Jesus even echoes it in John’s Gospel: “Before Abraham was, I Am.”
YHWH in a World Full of Gods
To really grasp the weight of the name YHWH, you’ve got to zoom out for a moment and look at the neighborhood. The ancient Near East was crowded with gods: Baal, Marduk, Asherah, Isis, Ra, and dozens more.
Most had specific portfolios: storm, fertility, war, sun, rivers. You prayed to the one who handled your particular crisis. In a world where divine names were like job descriptions, the God of Israel changes everything. His name doesn’t describe a task, it proclaims being. Existence. A reality bigger than crops or kings.
Where other gods had origin stories (born of chaos, bred from battle), YHWH just is. This made Israel’s God radically different. Not just another deity, but a category-breaker. A God whose name didn't reduce Him, but revealed His uncontainability.
And Yet… There Are Echoes
Some scholars suggest that YHWH may have linguistic or conceptual links to earlier Semitic deities. For example, El was the high god of the Canaanite pantheon, later reinterpreted in the Bible as a title for Israel’s God (e.g., El Elyon, “God Most High”).
And Yah (or Yahu) - though now understood as a poetic short form of YHWH - may have been worshipped as a regional god in early southern Israel or among the Midianites, possibly absorbed into YHWH’s identity as monotheism developed.
There are even ancient inscriptions that suggest YHWH may have originally been worshipped as a regional storm or warrior god before the idea of monotheism fully took root in Israel.
But whether or not those connections hold, the biblical text itself reframes and redefines everything. By the time Moses hears the name from the bush, YHWH isn’t just a tribal deity. He’s the Creator of heaven and earth. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The one who calls Himself “I Am.”
For the Israelites, the name YHWH became a marker of identity. Not just of God’s, but of theirs. To worship YHWH was to reject the convenience of idols and specialization. It was to believe in a God who wouldn’t be managed or manipulated, only trusted.
And that was no small thing in a world where you could always switch gods if one didn’t work out.
Stylistic representation of the burning bush from Exodus (image generated with Midjourney)
Echoes in the New Testament (and Beyond)
The name YHWH may be rooted in the Old Testament, but it doesn’t stop speaking there. Its resonance carries forward (quietly but unmistakably) into the New Testament. And for early Christians, these echoes weren’t just poetic.
“Before Abraham Was, I Am.”
In John 8:58, Jesus says to the crowd, “Before Abraham was, I am.”
Not I was. Not I existed before him.
“I Am.”
It’s not just strange grammar. It’s a direct callback to Exodus 3:14, where God introduces Himself to Moses with the exact same phrase. And the crowd gets the reference. They pick up stones to kill Him, not because He was unclear, but because He was very clear.
Jesus was claiming the name. The divine name. The unspeakable name.
The “I Am” Statements
The Gospel of John is filled with seven “I Am” statements from Jesus:
- I Am the Bread of Life
- I Am the Light of the World
- I Am the Good Shepherd
- I Am the Resurrection and the Life
- I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life
- I Am the True Vine
- I Am the Gate
Each one isn’t just a metaphor; it’s an identity. It’s Jesus embodying the presence of YHWH. He’s not just describing what He does, but revealing who He is. In flesh and blood. In time and space.
The God whose name was too holy to utter… speaks. In a human voice. For Christians, Jesus becomes the living image of YHWH, the one who is. Not distant, but walking among us. Still holy, but suddenly knowable.
And yet, even here, the mystery doesn’t disappear. The name isn’t reduced to something small or safe. It becomes something relational. Not less powerful, just more accessible.
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One God, Many Names
If YHWH is the most sacred name of God, it’s also surrounded by other names and titles that reveal different facets of who He is. Each one adds context and sometimes contrast to the picture.
Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) - The Creator, Majestic and Plural
This is the very first name for God we meet in the Bible:
“In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
Elohim is a more generic Semitic word for “god”, used even for false gods in some cases. But in Genesis, it refers to the One True God, and its plural form gives rise to rich theological debates. Is it a “plural of majesty”? A hint at complexity in God’s nature? Either way, to this day, the plurality remains a mystery.
But here's the key difference: Elohim creates, but YHWH relates.
When God starts forming humanity, walking with them, and entering into a covenant, that’s when the name YHWH takes center stage.
Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) - Lord and Master
Adonai means “Lord” in the sense of sovereign or master, someone with authority. It’s the name that Jewish readers would say instead of pronouncing YHWH. So in many ways, Adonai functions like a spoken stand-in for the unspoken name.
You’ll also see “Adonai Elohim” used together, emphasizing both God’s authority and His divine power.
El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי) - God Almighty
This title shows up especially in Genesis, often in times of covenant or promise. It’s sometimes translated as “God of the Mountain” or “God Almighty.”
Where YHWH emphasizes God’s eternal presence, El Shaddai evokes His power to act, to bless, to provide. Think of it as the name you call on when you need strength or assurance.
HaShem (הַשֵּׁם) - “The Name”
This isn’t a title in the Bible, but rather a Jewish convention that arose out of reverence for YHWH. Even today, many Jewish communities refer to God simply as HaShem, “The Name.”A way of acknowledging the holiness of YHWH without trying to pin Him down with human speech.
All Names, One God
Even though God is called by many names throughout Scripture, YHWH is different.
YHWH is the Tetragrammaton, a Greek word meaning “four letters.” Yod–He–Waw–He (יהוה). This is a name so sacred it’s never spoken aloud in Jewish tradition. It’s not just descriptive. It’s ontological. It tells us that God is.
Unlike the other names, YHWH isn’t used interchangeably or lightly. It’s the covenant name. The personal name. The one whispered to Moses from the bush, encoded with being itself. It’s the name Israel was given to call upon, but never to casually pronounce.
To this day, many people write “G-d” instead of “God”, a practice rooted in this deep reverence for YHWH. Because if a name holds this much weight, maybe it’s not meant to be handled too easily.
It’s the name that invites awe. The one that asks us to approach slowly, barefoot, like Moses before the fire.
Conclusion
We’ve looked at the Hebrew roots, the burning bush, the breath-like syllables, the silent reverence, and the bold echoes in the New Testament. We’ve seen how a name can carry theology, history, presence, and even poetry, all without ever being fully spoken aloud.
YHWH is a name that humbles you when you try to define it. A name that comforts you when everything else feels unstable. A name that doesn’t need to shout, because it’s already there, woven into the air you breathe.
As someone who’s spent years studying religion, I can tell you: the more time you spend with this name, the less you feel like you’ve “figured it out”, and the more it feels like it’s quietly figuring you out.
If this stirred something in you or if you want to keep exploring who God is and what it all means for your own faith, the Bible Chat App is a great place to do that. You can ask questions, study verses in depth, or reflect on God’s names one at a time.
References
Sarna, Nahum M. Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel. Schocken Books, 1986.
Smith, Mark S. The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel’s Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts. Oxford University Press, 2001.
Brueggemann, Walter. Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy. Fortress Press, 1997.
Botterweck, G. Johannes, and Helmer Ringgren (Eds.). Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Vol. 5
Koehler, Ludwig, and Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT). Brill, 1994–2000.
