Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Kevin P. Edgecomb" <kevin AT bombaxo.com>]

Solomon Landers wrote: 
When translators who believe God is eternal, as the NWT translators did,  
translate a verse to say what could be interpreted as otherwise, I fail to
see  
any evidence of bias, theological or otherwise.

KPE:
It's not necessarily the case that every instance of a peculiar rendering
actually has its source there or in any sort of conflation of use.  My
suspicion, which I hesitate to call a memory, is that the "indefinitely
lasting" translation of (LM is related to theological opinions regarding the
non-eternity of hell and the language used to describe it in Rev 20.10 and
other places in the NT, where AION- is thereafter mapped to (LM in the OT.
I only vaguely remember this reasoning being given to me over twenty years
ago, so it may not be correct.  It certainly, however, clarifies the oddity
of the passage in question if it was indeed the motivation.

Regards,
Kevin P. Edgecomb
Berkeley, California