05-09-2011, 05:34 PM
I had a Hebrew instructor tell me that he didn't think (eh:yeh) in Ruth 2:13 could be translated as "I-to-be", but only as "I-am". For myself, I think the verse is inconclusive on that, for it reads coherently both as "not I-to-be as-one-of thy-maids", and as "not I-am as-one-of thy-maids".
In Ex 3:14, my take is that YHWH is not really giving out his name to Moses, but instead saying something to the effect of, "I-to-be whom I-to-be", and then "thus thou-to-say to-the-sons-of Yisrael, 'I-to-be' sent-me to-you". Then, in Ex 3:15 he transitions from (eh:yeh) to "YHWH the-God-of your-fathers"; which he then refers to as "his-name".
Another option I have explored for the Hebrew imperfect is that "I-to-be", or "I-will-be" as commonly translated, might be more like "I-beith". Which is sort of an archaic English "stative" verb, one without tense. "... I-beith whom I-beith. Thus thou-saith to-the-sons-of Yisrael, 'I-beith' sent-me to-you." But I've made these same suppositions on the perfect verb as well, so I remain a bit undecided on the matter.
In Ex 3:14, my take is that YHWH is not really giving out his name to Moses, but instead saying something to the effect of, "I-to-be whom I-to-be", and then "thus thou-to-say to-the-sons-of Yisrael, 'I-to-be' sent-me to-you". Then, in Ex 3:15 he transitions from (eh:yeh) to "YHWH the-God-of your-fathers"; which he then refers to as "his-name".
Another option I have explored for the Hebrew imperfect is that "I-to-be", or "I-will-be" as commonly translated, might be more like "I-beith". Which is sort of an archaic English "stative" verb, one without tense. "... I-beith whom I-beith. Thus thou-saith to-the-sons-of Yisrael, 'I-beith' sent-me to-you." But I've made these same suppositions on the perfect verb as well, so I remain a bit undecided on the matter.