What is God’s name: I AM, the LORD, or Jealous?

God has one personal name, YHWH (‘the LORD’ in most English Bibles, ‘Jehovah’ in a few places in the KJV). The other two passages explain it and describe him; they do not give rival names.

In Exodus 3:14 Moses asks what name to give the people, and God answers “I AM THAT I AM” (Hebrew ’ehyeh asher ’ehyeh, from the verb hayah, ‘to be’). In the very next verse he gives the name itself: Moses is to say that “The Lord God of your fathers” has sent him, and God adds, “this is my name for ever” (3:15). The name YHWH is closely related to that verb, and ‘I AM’ shows what it means: God simply is, depending on no one, and he will be all that he has promised to be. So 3:14 explains the name, and 3:15 and 6:2–3 use it.

“Whose name is Jealous” (34:14) uses ‘name’ in its common Hebrew sense of character or reputation, as the Cambridge Bible notes. In the same chapter God “proclaimed the name of the Lord” by describing what he is like: “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (34:5–6). To say his name is Jealous means that he is known as the God who will not share his people’s worship with idols (34:13–15), as a faithful husband will not share his wife. Isaiah speaks the same way of the Messiah: “his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor” (Isaiah 9:6). One person can have one name and many titles.