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Showing posts from May, 2016

Isaiah 43:10 and Jesus’ ‘Ego Eimi’: A Study in Context, Language, and Interpretation

Isaiah 43:10 You are My witnesses, says Jehovah; and My servant whom I have elected; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. -- Green's Literal. Many have pointed to the expression “I am He” in Isaiah 43:10 and then noted that several New Testament translations render Jesus’ words with the same expression (John 4:26; 8:18; 8:24; 8:28; 9:9; 13:19; 18:5). From this, they construct a comparison intended to prove that Jesus is Jehovah. Some go even further, asserting that only God can speak this expression, and that in Scripture only God ever uses it of Himself. In Isaiah 43:10, the expression Jehovah uses consists of just two Hebrew words—*ani hu*. Literally, “I—he.” Biblical Hebrew lacks a copulative verb “to be,” so translators supply it, producing the familiar “I am he.” In the Christianized Septuagint, *ani hu* is rendered with the Greek *ego eimi*, literally “I am,” with the implied “he” understood from context. It is this LXX rendering that many trinita...