In Exodus (3:1-15) God elusively answers Moses' query about the divine Name ("I am who I am"), for it was believed that the people, knowing the Name, could hold God under magical control, that they could possess and govern God. Inadequately translated "Jehovah," YHVH, YHWH or Yahweh (appearing more than 6,000 times in the Old Testament and rendered "Lord" in the final verse of the cited passage in the New Revised Standard Version) has a number of possible translations: "I am who I am," "I will be who I will be," "I will be what tomorrow demands," "I will be present," "I will be what I want to be," "I will be with you," "I cause to be what I cause to be," and "It is He who creates what comes into existence."
Implied therein are these realities: God is what He is by virtue of His deeds; He is capable of responding to human need; God cares for humanity, takes account of human frailty while holding his creatures in high regard. God is the power of life, the power of being, the power of newness; He is the God who will be present. God is the origin of creation and Sovereign of history. As symbolized by the burning bush, God is present everywhere, even in a lowly bush, especially in this one that is revelatory, active and indestructible.
[information from The Torah: A Modern Commentary (Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981), pp. 396-406; "Yahweh" in the Abingdon Bible Dictionary (CD-Rom ed., 1997); Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament (Abridged 4th ed., 1998), pp. 55-59.]