I Am Who I Am

Last week, in #apache on irc.openprojects.net, we were goofing around when one guy came out of nowhere and said "i am, i am". We were talking about religion at the time, and another participant congratulated him on his religious knowledge. Me, one-time reader of the Bible, and curious explorer of religious culture, had no clue what he was talking about.

Apparently, when Moses was getting the ten commandments from the big guy, Moses asked "What should I tell the people downstairs when they ask who gave these to me?" God replied, "I am who I am" (thus circling back to the original guy's comment).

Now, I pride myself on esoteric knowledge, and I knew I would have remembered this if I had read it. A cursory hopping around on Google brought forth the answer. See, the Bible I read was the Jehovah's Witness version, a time of my life that, without a doubt, contributed to the messed up little person I am now. In the JW Bible, as the linked screenshot attests, God says "I shall prove to be what I shall prove to be" - semantically similar, but worlds apart from the original. The fact that such a hugely important phrase could be so different from Bible version to Bible version just kinda amazes me. Even more so is the conspiracy theory that Jesus Is God, based on some words that Jesus spoke.

Thanks aah and DrBacchus!