Exodus 3 · a question people ask
What does "I AM WHO I AM" mean?
Moses asks what to say when the people ask, "What is his name?" (3:13). God answers, "I AM WHO I AM," and "You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you’" (3:14). Then he gives the name the rest of the Bible uses: "The LORD, the God of your fathers… This is my name forever" (3:15). All agree that God names himself here and ties his name to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Christians put the weight in two places.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
God is the one who simply is
Some read the name as saying God depends on nothing and never begins or ends. Strong's derives the name the LORD from this verb and describes it as "(the) self-Existent or Eternal" (H3068). The psalmist says, "from everlasting to everlasting, you are God" (Psalm 90:2), and in Revelation the Lord God is the one "who is and who was and who is to come" (Revelation 1:8).
Psalm 90:2 · Revelation 1:8
God will be with his people
Others read the name beside God's promise two verses earlier, which uses the same Hebrew word: "Certainly I will be with you" (3:12). On this reading the name says God will show who he is by what he does, as he says later: "you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians" (6:7).
Exodus 3:12 · Exodus 6:7
The verses
“Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘The LORD, 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 forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.”