"Here I Am"
The journey of scriptwriting for iBIBLE continues as the team works our way through the book of Genesis. As scripts are written and weighed against key Bible translations, there are times when the various translations of Scripture present different wordings. Ensuring the accuracy of every word and phrase in iBIBLE is incredibly important, so when the translations differ, our team of researchers must dive deeper into the meaning of the text. And, as you will see, this leads us back to the original text. Today we look at a recent example from the script of Abraham's story.
In iBIBLE Chapter 12, the story where Abraham is tested when God asks him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, a certain phrase shows up multiple times: “Here I am.” At the beginning of the chapter, Abraham speaks to the Lord with these words. Here is how the phrase appears in four different Bible versions:
Genesis 22:1
Later in the chapter, Abraham speaks to Isaac using the same phrase.
Genesis 22:7
Abraham uses the same phrase again when speaking to the Angel of the Lord:
Genesis 22:11
So, the question arises: which one is it? Should the phrase be rendered “Here I am,” or “Here am I”? Digging deeper, it became apparent that even within one translation, the phrase can be written both ways throughout the chapter. You can see this above with the King James Version.
In the original Hebrew, the word in all three instances is “הנני.” The root word means “lo!” or “behold!” And, being a first person common singular word, it translates to mean literally “Here!” or “Behold, me.” This means that all three instances, the phrase can be translated either way: “Here I am” or “Here am I.”
There are so many small details, words, and phrases that we often overlook when reading the Bible. So, during the iBIBLE scriptwriting process, there is so much to learn and explore as we ensure iBIBLE is accurate to what the Bible truly says.
Thank you so much for joining us as we complete this God-sized task! Please prayerfully consider becoming an iBIBLE Producer today with a monthly donation. Please continue to pray for the iBIBLE team, along with the translators, distribution partners, and missionaries who are bringing God's Word to the world through iBIBLE.
