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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II

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  • From: Awohili AT aol.com
  • To: stoneyb AT touchwood.net, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Cc: Awohili AT aol.com
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II
  • Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:08:50 EST


Well, that's a lot of guessing and speculating, but if you really want to
know the rationale behind the NWT's use of "time indefinite" for "olam," I
suggest you read the publication "Insight on the Scriptures," volume 2, under
the
topic "Time Indefinite."

The thought that "olam" can refer to an indefinite time is not unique to the
NWT. As I noted earlier, at least one encyclopedia used the expression back
in 1915, and Gesenius' Hebrew-English Lexicon in 1836 defined "olam" as
"hidden time, i.e. obscure and long, of which the beginning or end is
uncertain
or indefinite." (My emphasis)

The term has nothing to do with Witness theology, since in most instances
the term "forever" fits quite well, i.e., the belief that the earth abides
forever, and that God is everlasting. Yet the NWT consistently uses "for
time
indefinite" or "from time indefinite to time indefinite" in verses
expressing
those concepts. However, when an augmenting Hebrew word such as "ad" is
used,
as in "olam w'ad," the NWT translates as "time indefinite, even forever."

Every Bible translation has its plusses and minuses, and phrases that are
favored or disfavored by somebody. But it is another thing to impute
ulterior,
unscholarly, or sectarian motives to a translation without knowing all the
facts or doing honest research, or by relying on innuendo, bias, and
speculation.

Solomon Landers
In a message dated 11/16/2005 9:38:15 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
stoneyb AT touchwood.net writes:

SB: I concur that it is not. It's bad English, with unfortunate
overtones of legal weaseling. Syntactical inversion is a constant NWT
mannerism, but in this particular case my professional guess is that
whoever coined the phrase was trying to find something that would borrow
legal/proverbial resonance from the familiar "from time immemorial".


I note, however, that the phrase is *becoming* regularly used
(presumably by writers raised in the NWT tradition). If you'll revisit
your Google results you'll find "to time indefinite" in, inter alia, a
romantic short story ... personal wedding congratulations ... and a
sentence in a Wikipedia article which purports to translate a diary
entry by on the elder Lucas Cranach: "But I know these things happenth
not, for the marriage of her and I shall last to time indefinite". It
speaks for itself.








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