# H1961 - hayah **Strong's:** [H1961](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1961/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** haw-yaw' **Part of speech:** verb (primitive root) ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs) The lexicon notes *hayah* is "always emphatic, and **not a mere copula or auxiliary**", a critical point. Where many languages use "to be" as a thin grammatical link between subject and predicate, biblical Hebrew uses *hayah* with stronger force. 1. **To exist, to be in existence**, actual being, existence. 2. **To come to pass, happen, occur**, eventfulness; "and it came to pass" (*wayyehi*). 3. **To become**, transition into a new state. 4. **To be (copula)**, joining subject to predicate, but with implicit weight. 5. **To be done, accomplished, finished**, completion sense. ## Theological force, the divine name The decisive theological use: in [Exodus 3.14](/codex/exodus-3-14/) God identifies Himself to Moses as > *אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה*, *ehyeh asher ehyeh* > I AM WHO I AM" / "I will be what I will be" / "I shall be that I shall be" *Ehyeh* is the qal first-person imperfect of *hayah*. God then commands Moses: "thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, *ehyeh* has sent me to you" ([Exodus 3:14b](/codex/exodus-3-14/)). One verse later, the divine name is given in third-person form: > *YHWH* (יהוה), [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/) This is the standard etymology: *YHWH* is the (presumed) third-person imperfect form of *hayah*, "He is / He will be / He causes to be", derived from the same root as the *ehyeh* of God's self-disclosure. The divine name itself encodes God's self-existence, eternal being, and covenant fidelity. The translation choice matters: - "I AM" (KJV, NASB95, ESV), emphasizes timeless self-existence, eternality (the patristic / classical metaphysical reading). - "I WILL BE" (some Jewish translations, NRSV margin), emphasizes covenantal presence, "I will be there as I will be there" (Buber, Rosenzweig). The Hebrew imperfect can carry both senses. - "I AM CAUSING TO BE" (a minority Hiphil reading, seldom defended), would make YHWH "the One who causes to be," the Creator. Linguistically strained. The classical Christian reading marries both: God's name means He is self-existent (*aseity*) **and** covenantally present. ## Notable verses ### Existence / being - **[Exodus 3.14](/codex/exodus-3-14/)**, *ehyeh asher ehyeh*, the supreme self-identification - **[Genesis 1:3](/codex/genesis-1-3/)**, *yehi or wayehi or*, "Let there be light, and there was light" - **[Genesis 1:6](/codex/genesis-1-6/), [14](/codex/genesis-1-14/), [15](/codex/genesis-1-15/)**, repeated *yehi* / *hayah* across the creation account - **[Deuteronomy 32:39](/codex/deuteronomy-32-39/)**, "I am He" (paralleled by Christ's *egō eimi* sayings in John) - **[Isaiah 41:4](/codex/isaiah-41-4/)**, "I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last I am He" - **[Isaiah 43:10-13](/codex/isaiah-43-10-13/)**, repeated divine self-identification using *ani hu* ### Coming to pass / eventfulness - **[Genesis 1:5](/codex/genesis-1-5/)**, *wayehi erev wayehi voqer*, "there was evening and there was morning" - **[Genesis 4:8](/codex/genesis-4-8/)**, *wayehi bihyotam*, "and it came to pass when they were" - Hundreds of narrative occurrences of *wayehi* introducing scenes ### Becoming - **[Genesis 2:7](/codex/genesis-2-7/)**, "man became (*wayehi*) a living being" (*nefesh chayyah*) - **[Genesis 19:26](/codex/genesis-19-26/)**, Lot's wife "became (*wattehi*) a pillar of salt" ## Patristic / scholarly note Philo of Alexandria (*Life of Moses* 1.74-76, c. AD 30) reads [Exodus 3:14](/codex/exodus-3-14/) as the foundational metaphysical claim that God alone truly *is*; created things merely participate in being. This Jewish-Hellenistic reading shaped Christian theology directly. Augustine (*Confessions* 7.10; *Tractates on John* 38-43) develops the doctrine of divine *aseity* (self-existence) from this verse. Aquinas (*ST* I, q.13, a.11) calls God's name "He Who Is" the "supremely proper name" of God: every creature has being only through participation, but God *is* His own being (*ipsum esse*). The LXX renders *ehyeh asher ehyeh* as *ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν*, "I AM the one who IS" / "I AM the existing one", making the metaphysical reading explicit. Jesus's *egō eimi* sayings in John (8:24, 8:28, 8:58, 13:19, 18:5-6) deliberately invoke this LXX phrasing; the unmistakable claim is divine self-identification. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ ## See also - [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/), the divine name derived from this root - [H0430 - elohim](/codex/h0430-elohim/), paired with YHWH throughout the OT - [G2316 - theos](/codex/g2316-theos/), Greek "God" - [G1510 - eimi](/codex/g1510-eimi/), Greek "to be," used in *egō eimi* --- _Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by **Crossway**, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved._