“Wanna Buy A Vowel?”

Thursday, September 03, 2015

In the Old Testament, when asked His name, God tells Moses that it is “I Am”, which I understand to mean that He has always been, is, and will always be. Later, He is called Jehovah… what does the name Jehovah mean?

Sincerely, “I Am’s” Servant

Dear “I Am’s” Servant,

‘I Am That I Am’ is the name God gives Moses for Himself in Ex 3:14. In the Hebrew, ‘I Am That I Am’ is a single word. The word is pretty much unpronounceable in our English language. In English, it would be like pronouncing ‘YHWH’ which sounds like jibberish! So Jewish scholars began to transliterate that word as ‘YeHoWaH’… which eventually became translated as ‘Jehovah’. So in fact, ‘Jehovah’ and ‘I Am That I Am’ are the exact same word - and they do indeed mean that God always has been, is, and will be (Isa 44:6, Rev 1:8).

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