אֲנִי
I
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Pronoun
- A word standing in for a noun (“he,” “this,” “who”).
Person
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H589 appears in the Book of Genesis — 38 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Genesis
- Genesis 6:17 וַ/אֲנִ֗י conj + pron pers 1cs I, even, I do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.
- Genesis 9:9 וַ/אֲנִ֕י conj + pron pers 1cs "As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you,
- Genesis 9:12 אֲנִ֣י pron pers 1cs God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
- Genesis 14:23 אֲנִ֖י pron pers 1cs that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'
- Genesis 15:7 אֲנִ֣י pron pers 1cs He said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."
- Genesis 17:1 אֲנִי pron pers 1cs When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.
- Genesis 17:4 אֲנִ֕י pron pers 1cs "As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
- Genesis 18:13 וַ/אֲנִ֥י conj + pron pers 1cs Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?'
- Genesis 18:17 אֲנִי֙ אֲנִ֥י pron pers 1cs pron pers 1cs Yahweh said, "Will I hide from Abraham what I do,
- Genesis 22:5 וַ/אֲנִ֣י conj + pron pers 1cs Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you.
- Genesis 24:45 אֲנִי֩ pron pers 1cs Before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, 'Please let me drink.'
- Genesis 27:8 אֲנִ֖י pron pers 1cs Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.
- Genesis 27:24 אָֽנִי pron pers 1cs He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am."
- Genesis 27:32 אֲנִ֛י pron pers 1cs Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
- Genesis 27:34 אָ֖נִי pron pers 1cs When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."
- Genesis 27:38 אָ֖נִי pron pers 1cs Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
- Genesis 28:13 אֲנִ֣י pron pers 1cs Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed.
- Genesis 31:44 אֲנִ֣י pron pers 1cs Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you."
- Genesis 31:52 אָ֗נִי pron pers 1cs May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
- Genesis 33:14 וַ/אֲנִ֞י conj + pron pers 1cs Please let my lord pass over before his servant: and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir."
- Genesis 34:30 וַ/אֲנִי֙ אֲנִ֥י conj + pron pers 1cs pron pers 1cs Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house."
- Genesis 35:11 אֲנִ֨י pron pers 1cs God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your loins.
- Genesis 37:10 אֲנִי֙ pron pers 1cs He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?"
- Genesis 37:30 וַ/אֲנִ֖י אֲנִי conj + pron pers 1cs pron pers 1cs He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more; and I, where will I go?"
- Genesis 40:16 אֲנִי֙ pron pers 1cs When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head.
- Genesis 41:9 אֲנִ֖י pron pers 1cs Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I remember my faults today.
- Genesis 41:11 אֲנִ֣י pron pers 1cs We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
- Genesis 41:15 וַ/אֲנִ֗י conj + pron pers 1cs Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."
- Genesis 41:44 אֲנִ֣י pron pers 1cs Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt."
- Genesis 42:18 אֲנִ֥י pron pers 1cs Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, for I fear God.
- Genesis 42:37 וַ/אֲנִ֖י conj + pron pers 1cs Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I don't bring him to you. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to you again."
- Genesis 43:14 וַ/אֲנִ֕י conj + pron pers 1cs May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."
- Genesis 45:3 אֲנִ֣י pron pers 1cs Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.
- Genesis 45:4 אֲנִי֙ pron pers 1cs Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
- Genesis 48:7 וַ/אֲנִ֣י conj + pron pers 1cs As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem)."
- Genesis 48:22 וַ/אֲנִ֞י conj + pron pers 1cs Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."
- Genesis 49:29 אֲנִי֙ pron pers 1cs He charged them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
- Genesis 50:19 אָֽנִי pron pers 1cs Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
אני (ʼănîy) is a Hebrew name most often rendered “I.” It first appears in Genesis 6:17. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 803 verses — among the most common. For the data behind this summary, explore 803-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H589 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 803
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 803 distinct verses.
- 37 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 37 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #50
- by frequency
- Top 50 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 50 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 803 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 803 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 420 verses · 52%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 217 verses · 27%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 166 verses · 21%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: I 2×, Me 2×, Shall i 2×
- American Standard Version: I 3×, Me 2×, Shall i 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: I 722×, Surely as i 13×, I am 11×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: I 654×, Am 96×, I am 56×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H589 across 13 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H589 across 14 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H589 across 854 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 34 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 16 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H589 across 975 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 23 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 1 sense BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- I (first person singular - usually used for emphasis)
Word origin
pron. 1 s. comm. I (أَنَا, אֲנָא, ܐܶܢܳܐ:, አነ ) Gn 6:17; 9:9, 12 + oft. Following a ptcp. as its subj. (to express mostly either a true present or the fut. instans) Gn 18:17 הַמְכַסֶּה אֲנִי Am I hiding from Abraham that which, etc., Ju 15:3 1 S 3:13 Je 1:12; 38:14; 44:29 (v. Dr§ 135, 4). Appended to a verb, it expresses, in early Hebrew, a real emphasis, as Ju 8:23 לֹא אֶמְשֹׁל אֲנִי בָּכֶם I will not rule over you, 2 S 12:28 lest I take the city, 2 S 17:15 thus and thus did Ahitophel counsel, and thus and thus יָעַצְתִּי אָ֑נִי did I counsel; but in later Heb. it is sometimes pleonastic, Ec 2:11–15, 18–20 +. In response to a question, אָ֑נִי alone = I am, It is I, Gn 27:24 Ju 13:11 1 K 18:8 +. With הֲ, הַאֲנִי †Is 66:9. (Syn. אָנֹכִי, q.v.)
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from אנכי (ʼânôkîy) (H595) — I.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
אני
- (= b. h. ינה, sec. r. of און, cmp. אָנַן a. b. h. ענה); Pi. (אִנָּה) אִינָּה to press, wrong, oppress; to impose, overreach in dealing, v. אוֹנָאָה. B. Mets. 59ᵇ המְאַנֶּה את הגר he who wounds a stranger’s (proselyte’s) feeling. Ib. 49ᵇ תן לי מה שאִינִּיתָנִי return to me the amount with which thou hast overreached me. Ib. 50ᵃ top מה שאניתני (Ms. R. 1 שנִתְאוֹנַנְתִּי, v. infra). Ib. 51ᵃ שאניתני (Ms. M. שאֲנַנְתָּנִי, fr. אָנַן; Mish. ib. IV, 2 שאוֹנִיתָנִי, v. אוֹנָאָה, Ms. R. 1 שהוֹנִיתָנִי, v. הוֹנָאָה, Ms. R. 2 שאונתני, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note).
- to be overreached. Ib. 49ᵇ מי נ׳ which of them has been overreached? Ib. 50ᵇ מי שנ׳ (Ms. M. מִתְאוֹנֶה); a. fr. [Nithpol. of אנן, נִתְאוֹנֵן, v. supra.] [In. Y. אוֹנָה, v. אוֹנָאָה.]
אֲנִי
- , v. אָנֹכִי) I. Succ. 53ᵃ; a. v. fr.—[Ib. IV, 5 אני והו (Y. והוא), reverential transcription of אנא יהוה, to avoid the utterance of the Tetragrammaton.]—Pl. אָנוּ. Keth. I, 6; a. fr.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 60 distinct written forms H589 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| אֲנִ֥י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 8:15 | 145 |
| אֲנִ֣י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 8:1 | 126 |
| אֲנִ֖י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ecclesiastes 2:15 | 76 |
| אֲנִי֙ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 1:10 | 57 |
| אֲנִ֤י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 9:20 | 45 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֣י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 8:5 | 33 |
| אֲנִ֛י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ecclesiastes 4:2 | 32 |
| אָֽנִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Deuteronomy 12:30 | 24 |
| אָ֔נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ecclesiastes 2:13 | 20 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֖י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Exodus 2:9 | 20 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֗י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 10:4 | 19 |
| וַ/אֲנִי֙ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 8:2 | 17 |
| אֲנִ֨י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 10:7 | 16 |
| אָ֑נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 5:8 | 16 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֥י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 8:2 | 16 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֤י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 10:17 | 15 |
| אָ֗נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ecclesiastes 5:18 | 14 |
| אֲנִ֗י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ecclesiastes 1:16 | 13 |
| אֲנִ֧י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Deuteronomy 32:39 | 12 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֕י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 11:20 | 12 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֞י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Exodus 31:6 | 11 |
| אֲ֭נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Job 5:8 | 10 |
| אֲנִ֞י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Exodus 10:1 | 10 |
| אֲנִ֜י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ecclesiastes 2:15 | 9 |
| אֲנִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Genesis 17:1 | 8 |
| אֲ֝נִ֗י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Psalms 2:7 | 7 |
| וַֽ/אֲנִי֙ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 14:11 | 7 |
| אֲֽנִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Job 5:3 | 6 |
| וַ֭/אֲנִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Psalms 2:6 | 6 |
| אָ֖נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Genesis 27:34 | 5 |
| אָ֭נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Job 7:12 | 5 |
| וַ/אֲנִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 10:12 | 5 |
| וַ֝/אֲנִ֗י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Psalms 31:6 | 5 |
| אֲנִֽי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 36:32 | 4 |
| אָ֕נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 18:3 | 4 |
| אָ֨נִי֙ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 20:3 | 4 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֛י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 20:31 | 4 |
| אֲנִ֕י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Genesis 17:4 | 3 |
| אֲנִי֩ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Amos 4:6 | 3 |
| אָ֣נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 33:11 | 3 |
| אָ֥נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Psalms 6:2 | 3 |
| אֲנִ֔י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 9:10 | 2 |
| אֲנִי֮ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Job 7:11 | 2 |
| אָנִי֒ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 17:19 | 2 |
| וַ/אֲנִ֨י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | 1 Samuel 19:3 | 2 |
| וַֽ/אֲנִי֙ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | 1 Kings 18:24 | 2 |
| אֲנִ֪י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Psalms 116:16 | 1 |
| אָ֜נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ezekiel 34:8 | 1 |
| אָ֝֗נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Job 9:20 | 1 |
| אָ֡נִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Zephaniah 2:9 | 1 |
| אָנִֽי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Judges 9:2 | 1 |
| אָנִי֩ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Malachi 1:6 | 1 |
| אָנִי֮ | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Jeremiah 22:24 | 1 |
| הַ/אֲנִ֥י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Isaiah 66:9 | 1 |
| וַ֠/אֲנִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | 1 Kings 5:9 | 1 |
| וַֽ/אֲנִ֛י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | 2 Chronicles 6:2 | 1 |
| וַֽ/אֲנִי | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Isaiah 43:12 | 1 |
| וַֽ/אֲנִ֣י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Joshua 17:14 | 1 |
| שֶׁ/אֲנִ֣י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Song of Solomon 1:6 | 1 |
| שֶׁ/אֲנִ֥י | Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Ecclesiastes 2:18 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H589, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 744 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 803 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 6:17
- Exodus 2:9
- Leviticus 11:44
- Numbers 3:12
- Deuteronomy 12:30
- Joshua 5:14
- Judges 1:3
- Ruth 1:21
- 1 Samuel 1:26
- 2 Samuel 3:13
- 1 Kings 1:5
- 2 Kings 1:10
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
