God said shows the narrator’s insistence that it is God who is about to reveal his name. But I AM WHO I AM is not the name; it is an intentional play on the word I AM, the word on which the name YHWH in verse 15 is based. This roundabout reply is not as difficult to translate as it is to understand. Various attempts have been made to translate the meaning: “I am; that is who I am” (New English Bible); “I am who am” (New American Bible); “I am he who is” (New Jerusalem Bible). One translation (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) even transliterates from the Hebrew: “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.” Another way to express this is “ ‘I Am’ is who I am.” In languages that have different verbs for permanent and temporary being, the permanent one should be used.

The word for I AM (ʾehyeh) is the verb “to be” in the first person singular; the name YHWH (probably pronounced “Yahweh”) is an early form of this same verb in the third person singular. The significance of the name is thus established, but its precise meaning is not clear; it may be expressed in a variety of ways. (See the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation and the comment at verse 2a.)

And he said may be omitted, as in Good News Translation and others, for it is still God who continues to speak without interruption. Say this to the people of Israel is in answer to Moses’ question, “What shall I say to them?” It is not the answer to the question “What is his name?” What Moses is to say to the Israelites, first of all, is “I AM has sent me to you.” Such a reply was to establish Moses’ authority to speak in the name of a God who is far greater than his name.

Good News Translation attempts to make better sense of this reply with “The one who is called I AM has sent me to you.” But this seems to contradict what is said in verse 15. It would be better to say “The one who calls himself I AM has sent me to you,” in order to avoid confusion with what the Israelites are to call him. In answer to the question “What is his name?” therefore, it is better to consider verse 14 as an indirect or vague reply and verse 15 as the direct reply.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .