Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Dear George,

I agree that we must not conclude that when we find (WLM in a text, 
the reference is eternity. While etymology has some limitations, I 
ask my students about the meaning of the verb (LM, and I point out 
that "a time whose length is hidden" is the core meaning of the 
substantive. In the Tanakh it often refer to time that is unending, 
but as you say, the context must decide.

Norwegian translations of mine of the Ethiopic Kebra Nagast and of 
many Ugaritic documents were published last year. In both languages 
we have a cognate word. In Norwegian we have the word "uavgrenset" 
(unbounded), and I consistently used "uavgrenset tid" (unbounded 
time) both for the Ethiopic and Ugaritic cognates. Time that is 
unbounded has a length that is undisclosed or hidden; it may or may 
not be eternal, and it is now the reader that must decide in each 
case.

A good translation principle in my view is to render ambiguous words 
in the source text with ambiguous words in the target text, and leave 
the interpretation to the readers. Unfortunately, this is not what 
modern Bible translations do, but in hundreds (I mean hundreds) of 
instances the translators has made decisions on the part of the 
readers - often wrong decisions in my view- and the readers do not 
know that the interpretations of the translators are forced upon them.

In Aramaic, the substantive (LM may have the same meaning as the the 
Hebrew cognate, but it may also refer to a period of time 
characterized by particular things/events (the English word "world" 
for this includes too many things  and "age" is too restricted). The 
Greek word corresponding to (LM/(WLM is AIWN. It often refers to a 
time period characterized by particular things/events, but 
interestingly, it may also in particular constructions refer to 
eternity.

A study of the development of the meanings/references in the 
mentioned languages could be a fine subject for a MA thesis.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo



>  > Indeed, which is why it makes sense to think of olam as
> >  conveying the notion of time continuing beyond all measure.
>
> Not necessarily. (oLaM simply means 'always'. This may indicate 
> infinite time. However, it might just be a rhetorical way of 
> indicating a fixed norm (e.g., "I always lock the door when I 
> leave"), or a way of saying 'as far as I can see' (e.g. "This will 
> always be a problem"). That is, it refers to a period of time which 
> is not going to be measured, even if that is in fact a finite span 
> of time.
>
> It must not be interpreted as always (excuse the pun) indicating 
> 'forever' - that is, without end. This is within the semantic range 
> of the word, but as with any particular nuance, it must be 
> determined from the given context.
>
> To take a biblical example: Deut 15.17 states "Take an awl and 
> pierce it through his ear into the door, and he becomes your slave 
> forever [ L:(oLaM)." This verse cannot possible mean that the person 
> becomes a slave for eternity. In this case it means 'always' in the 
> sense of 'for life' (cf. Holman CSB translation).
>
> As I always tell my students: "Context is your best friend!"
>
>
> Regards,
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
> www.moore.edu.au
>
>
>
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