אֶהְיֶה ehyeh — 1cs Qal Imperfect of היה (H1961)¶
Definition¶
ehyeh (אֶהְיֶה) is the first-person common singular Qal imperfect of the root היה "to be / become / happen" (H1961, III-he). As a finite verb-form it is morphologically unambiguous (no gender distinction in 1cs), but its semantic range is exceptionally wide because Biblical Hebrew's "imperfect" (yiqtol) is aspect/mood-driven rather than tense-locked and because היה itself spans copular "be," existential "exist," and fientive "become / come to pass." The form is the headline of Exo 3:14 ehyeh asher ehyeh but occurs 20× in the Hebrew Bible and is most often parsed as a covenant formula "I will be with you."
- Predictive future — "I will be / I will become"
- Durative / habitual / ongoing present — "I am / I keep being"
- Modal / volitive (cohortative nuance) — "let me be / may I be"
- Gnomic or essential predication — "I am (in essence)"
- Covenantal accompaniment formula — idiomatic אֶהְיֶה + עִם + 2ms "I will be with you"
Form Recognition¶
- Aleph-prefix (א) — the 1cs yiqtol preformative; always vocalised seghol (אֶ-) or hateph-seghol under the laryngeal before the following shewa/hateph
- No gender suffix — 1cs yiqtol is common-gender (same form for male/female speaker), so אֶהְיֶה never takes a feminine counterpart
- III-he root behaviour — the original final he of היה surfaces as a plene segolate ending -ה (yod + seghol + he) in the non-jussive imperfect; contrast the jussive/wayyiqtol which apocopates to יְהִי / וַיְהִי (h elided, short vowel)
- Full pointing: אֶהְיֶה = א (seghol) + ה (hateph-seghol under laryngeal, rendered vocal shewa in printed texts) + י (shewa/silent) + ֶ (seghol) + ה (final mater)
- Parser codes:
Verb.Qal.Impf.1s(ETCBC gloss "be"); search stringsp=verb vs=qal vt=impf ps=p1 nu=sgwith lemma filterהיה - Lemma: היה, Strong's H1961
- Contrast with jussive form יְהִי ("let there be," Gen 1:3) — same root, same stem, different person (3ms) and mood (jussive/short); the yod-prefix + apocopated he is the telltale difference from א-prefix + full -eh ending
Functions with Examples¶
1. Covenantal Accompaniment Formula (אֶהְיֶה + עִם / אֶת)¶
The dominant use in the canonical corpus. God (or in one case a ruler) pledges presence. Frequency of this idiom drives most translational choices.
| Reference | Hebrew clause | Parsing | KJV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen 26:3 | וְאֶֽהְיֶ֥ה עִמְּךָ | Qal.Impf.1s | "and I will be with thee" (to Isaac) |
| Gen 31:3 | וְאֶֽהְיֶ֖ה עִמָּֽךְ | Qal.Impf.1s | "and I will be with thee" (to Jacob) |
| Exo 3:12 | כִּֽי־אֶֽהְיֶ֣ה עִמָּ֔ךְ | Qal.Impf.1s | "Certainly I will be with thee" (to Moses) |
| Exo 4:12 | וְאָנֹכִ֣י אֶֽהְיֶ֣ה עִם־פִּ֔יךָ | Qal.Impf.1s | "and I will be with thy mouth" |
| Deu 31:23 | וְאָנֹכִ֖י אֶֽהְיֶ֥ה עִמָּֽךְ | Qal.Impf.1s | "and I will be with thee" (Joshua commission) |
| Jos 1:5 | אֶהְיֶ֣ה עִמָּ֔ךְ | Qal.Impf.1s | "so I will be with thee" |
| Jos 3:7 | אֶהְיֶ֥ה עִמָּֽךְ | Qal.Impf.1s | "so I will be with thee" |
| Jdg 6:16 | אֶהְיֶ֣ה עִמָּ֔ךְ | Qal.Impf.1s | "Surely I will be with thee" (to Gideon) |
The formula has a standard triad: divine speaker → 1cs אֶהְיֶה → עִם / אֶת + 2ms/2mp suffix of addressee. It functions as commissioning oath-language.
2. Predicate-Role Formula (אֶהְיֶה + לְ + N)¶
| Reference | Hebrew clause | Parsing | KJV |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2Sa 7:14 | אֲנִי֙ אֶהְיֶה־לּוֹ לְאָב | Qal.Impf.1s | "I will be his father" (Davidic covenant) |
| 1Ch 17:13 | אֲנִי אֶהְיֶה־לּוֹ לְאָב | Qal.Impf.1s | "I will be his father" (parallel to 2Sa 7:14) |
Here אֶהְיֶה takes a לְ-predicate ("be to/for = function as") pairing with a matching 3ms יִהְיֶה ("he shall be [my son]") in the very next clause — the two imperfects of the same root co-occur in the same covenant sentence.
3. Absolute / Essential Predication (Exo 3:14)¶
| Reference | Hebrew clause | Parsing | KJV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exo 3:14a | אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה | Qal.Impf.1s + Conj + Qal.Impf.1s | "I AM THAT I AM" |
| Exo 3:14b | אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם | Qal.Impf.1s | "I AM hath sent me unto you" |
Syntax of ehyeh asher ehyeh — an idem-per-idem construction: two finite clauses (each a complete verbless-verbal sentence with built-in 1cs subject) joined by the relative particle אֲשֶׁר. The two ehyehs are grammatically symmetrical; אֲשֶׁר functions as a generalising relative ("that / which / whatever") rather than a standard restrictive relative. Parallel formulae include Exo 33:19 ḥannōtî ʾet-ʾăšer ʾāḥōn ("I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious") and Ezk 12:25, confirming the idiom as a Hebrew rhetorical device of deliberate self-definition by self-reference. The 1cs subject is embedded in the verb; no independent pronoun is required.
In v.14b the form is re-used as a proper name-substitute (subject of שְׁלָחַנִי "has sent me"), showing the verb-form can itself be nominalised as a self-designation.
4. Non-Divine Speakers (Ordinary 1cs "I will be / I am")¶
| Reference | Hebrew clause | Speaker | KJV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jdg 11:9 | אֶהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶ֖ם לְרֹֽאשׁ | Jephthah | "shall I be your head?" |
| 2Sa 15:34 | אֲנִי֩ עַבְדְּךָ֨ הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ אֶֽהְיֶ֗ה | Hushai | "I will be thy servant, O king" |
| Rth 2:13 (cf.) | וְאָנֹכִי֙ לֹ֣א אֶֽהְיֶ֔ה (variant 1cs forms of היה in this register) | Ruth | "though I be not like unto…" |
These confirm the form is unremarkable 1cs language — not in itself a divine name. Its theological weight at Exo 3:14 comes from context and the idem-per-idem construction, not from the verb-form alone.
The Translation Range¶
Because Biblical Hebrew yiqtol does not grammaticalise tense in the Indo-European sense, ehyeh is compatible with all of the following glosses — the resolution depends on clausal context, not morphology:
| Gloss | Aspectual/Modal force | Contextual trigger |
|---|---|---|
| "I will be" | future/predictive | commissioning/promise contexts (Exo 3:12; Jos 1:5) |
| "I am" | durative-present / essential | verbless-style existential assertion (Exo 3:14) |
| "I am being" / "I keep being" | continuous / habitual | repeated-action or idem-per-idem frames |
| "I become / I am becoming" | fientive / ingressive | contexts of state-change (cf. Qal hāyāh "come to pass") |
| "Let me be" / "may I be" | volitive / modal | hypothetical/conditional contexts (some wisdom/narrative) |
Standard grammars (Joüon–Muraoka §113; GKC §107) classify yiqtol as encoding imperfective / non-past / modal aspect. The form ehyeh thus legitimately bears any one of "I am / I will be / I am being / I keep being / I become" — Exo 3:14 is ambiguous at the morphological level by design. LXX resolves with present indicative Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν; Aquila and Theodotion read future Ἔσομαι ὃς ἔσομαι; the Vulgate reads present "ego sum qui sum."
Contrast with Related Forms¶
| Form | Parsing | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| אֶהְיֶה ehyeh | Qal.Impf.1s | 1cs "I will be / I am" | Exo 3:14 |
| יִהְיֶה yihyeh | Qal.Impf.3ms | 3ms "he will be / it will be" | 2Sa 7:14 ("and he shall be to me for a son") |
| יְהִי yehî | Qal.Impf.3ms (jussive / apocopated) | 3ms volitive "let him/it be" | Gen 1:3 יְהִי אוֹר |
| וַיְהִי wayehî | Qal.Wayq.3ms | narrative past "and it came to pass" | Gen 1:5 |
| הָיִיתִי hāyîtî | Qal.Perf.1s | 1cs qatal "I was / I have been" | Jos 1:5 hāyîtî ʿim-Mōšeh "I was with Moses" (paired with ehyeh ʿimmāk in same verse — perfect/imperfect aspect contrast in a single rhetorical line) |
Relation to יִהְיֶה and phonological proximity to יהוה (YHWH): the 3ms imperfect of היה is yihyeh (vocalised יִהְיֶ֣ה), consonantally יהיה. The Tetragrammaton יהוה (YHWH) shares the same root-consonants י-ה-ה plus waw (or is formed from an older הוה by-form). Whether יהוה is best analysed as a Qal 3ms imperfect ("he is / he will be / he causes to be") or a Hiphil ("he causes to be / he brings into existence") is a long-standing morphological debate; either way, יהוה is formally and etymologically adjacent to 3ms יִהְיֶה and, by reflex, to 1cs אֶהְיֶה. The Exo 3:14 → 3:15 sequence exploits exactly this relation: God self-names in v.14 with the 1cs ehyeh ("I will be"), then in v.15 supplies the external 3ms name YHWH ("he will be / he is") that others will use. The 1cs↔3ms pairing is a single semantic core (אֶהְיֶה "I will be" ↔ YHWH "He-will-be / He-is") rotated to first person for divine self-reference and third person for the covenant name.
See also: - stem-niphal for Hebrew verb-stem recognition conventions - symbol-decoding-predicate-nominal for idem-per-idem and verbless-clause patterns
Inventory of ehyeh Occurrences (20×, BHSA)¶
Gen 26:3 · Gen 31:3 · Exo 3:12 · Exo 3:14 (×3) · Exo 4:12 · Exo 4:15 · Deu 31:23 · Jos 1:5 · Jos 3:7 · Jdg 6:16 · Jdg 11:9 · 1Sa 18:18 · 1Sa 23:17 · 2Sa 7:14 · 2Sa 15:34 · 2Sa 16:18 · 2Sa 16:19 · Isa 3:7 · (… continuing through the canon)
Of the 20 attestations, ~11 fall under the covenantal accompaniment idiom (אֶהְיֶה + עִם) — making "I will be with you" the statistically dominant reading of the form.
Generated from: hebrew_parser.py --lemma היה (filter Impf.1s) and --verse for Exo 3:12, 3:14, 4:12; Jos 1:5, 3:7; Jdg 6:16; 2Sa 7:14; Deu 31:23; 1Ch 17:13.
Context-neutral: no theological adjudication of the Tetragrammaton's derivation or of the LXX/Aquila translational split.