From the TANAK (Hebrew Bible) the section of Narrative / Laws called in
Hebrew Shemot (transliterated) that means "Names" -- Exodus 3: 1 - 22 includes
the awesome account of the self-revelation of the Divine Name. This translation
is from Jerusalem Bible (1966) and it includes a transliterated Yahweh that is
conveyed "I Am who I Am"
Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law.
He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to
Horeb (a.k.a. Sinai), the mountain of God. There the angel of
Yahweh appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire,
coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was
the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up. "I must go
and look at this strange sight," Moses said, "and see why
the bush is not burnt. Now Yahweh saw him go forward to
look and God called to him from the middle of the bush.
"Moses, Moses!" he said.
"Here I am" he answered.
"Come no nearer. Take off your shoes, for the place on
which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob."
At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.
And Yahweh said, "I have seen the miserable state
of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be
free of their slave-drivers. Yes, I am well aware of their
sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of
the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land to a
land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey flow,
the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites,
the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. And now
the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have
witnessed the way in which the Egyptians oppress them,
so come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel,
my people, out of Egypt."
Moses said to God, "Who am I to go to Pharaoh and
bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?
"I shall be with you" was the answer "and this is the
sign by which you shall know that it is I who have sent
you. . . After you have led the people out of Egypt,
you are to offer worship to God on this mountain."
Then Moses said to God, "I am to go, then, to the
sons of Israel and say to them, "The God of your
fathers has sent me to you". But if they ask me what
his name is, what am I to tell them"?
And God said to Moses, "I Am who I Am. This"
he added "is what you must say to the sons of Israel:
I Am has sent me to you". And God also said to Moses,
You are to say to the sons of Israel: Yahweh, the God
of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you". This is
my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked
for all generations to come. Go an gather the elders
of Israel together and tell them, "Yahweh, the God of
your fathers, has appeared to me -- the God of Abraham,
of Isaac, and of Jacob; and he has said to me:
I have visited you and seen all that the Egyptians are
doing to you. And so I have resolved to bring you up
out of Egypt where you are oppressed, into the land of
the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites,
the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land where milk
and honey flow."
They will listen to your words, and with the elders of Israel
you are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, "Yahweh,
the God of the Hebrews, has come to meet us. Give us
leave, then, to make a three days journey into that
wilderness to offer sacrifice to Yahweh our God" For
myself, knowing that the king of Egypt will not let you go
unless he is forced by a mighty hand, I shall show my power
and strike Egypt with all the wonders I am going to work
there. After this he will let you go.
I will give this people such prestige in the eyes of
the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-
handed. Every woman will ask her neighbour and the
woman who is staying in her house for silver ornaments
and gold. With these you will adorn your sons and
daughters; you will plunder the Egyptians.
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