[B-Greek] John 8:58 as translation greek

Rolf Furuli furuli at online.no
Thu Feb 3 11:48:16 EST 2005


Dear Michael,

While your parallels may seem attractive to some, there are several 
linguistic problems connected with them, and I note one below:

The meaning of the Hebrew HYH ("be; become) does not correspond to the 
meaning of the Greek EIMI.

There are 3,576 occurrences of HYH in the Hebrew Bible and 6,467 
occurrences of EIMI in the LXX.  In most of the LXX examples EIMI is not 
a translation of HYH, but often EIMI  is used as copula to render a 
nominal clause in Hebrew.  Of the 45 examples of EHYEH/simplified 
transcription/ (imperfect 1. person singular) 40 clearly refer to the 
future (because of the lexical meaning combined with 1st person).  Some 
of the last five examples may have present reference or they may refer 
to the future as well.  I am aware of only two instances where EHYEH is 
translated with EGO EIMI in the LXX, namely Ex 3:14 and Hos 1:9. (In 
view of the almost universal future reference of EHYEH the NIV redering 
"I AM WHO I AM" in Ex 3:14 is very strange to say the least.)  That 
Jesus used EHYEH  in John 8:58 is therefore very unlikely.

Michael Abernathy wrote:

> I just thought I would add my two cents to this discussion of John 
> 8:58. It seems to me that we have only three assumptions we can make 
> about direct quotes as they apply to Jesus: 1. Jesus spoke Greek (I 
> don't know very many scholars who would take this position.), 2. The 
> author has fabricated the quote for reasons of his own (Some may 
> accept this. I don't.), 3. All quotes of Jesus represent an honest 
> attempt to translate His words from either Aramaic or Hebrew.
> If the third option is assumed, then we have some basis for clarifying 
> what Jesus meant by EGO EIMI.
>
> I see only two likely possibilities for what John translated as EGO EIMI.
>
> 1. Jesus said eyeh (I am not aware if b-greek has a standard for 
> transliterating Hebrew).
> This imperfect verb could be used as a reference to the Divine Name 
> but could also be translated as EGO EIMI.
> Although, the meaning of the imperfect has been debated on b-hebrew, I 
> note that Rabbi Yitzchak understood that it lacks a definite time 
> sense and interpreted it to mean,  "I am He Who has been, Who is now, 
> and Who will be in the future."
> This suggests to me that His listeners would understand EGW EIMI as a 
> statement of an existence that stretched back in time to the beginning 
> and continuing at least to the time of the statement if not until the 
> end of time.
>
> snip


Best regards

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo

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