Fred, עד עולם is a prepositional phrase which may be literally translated, "up to perpetuity." עולם is frequently found with other spacial prepositions, like מן, "from" (referring to the past), and ל, "to."
Considering your penchant for using non-standard English syntax, you probably would appreciate that the Hebrew sometimes omits the head of the prepositional phrase when עד is used, resulting in the same concept as עד עולם. Basically, what is being said in such cases is, "Something is true until." Until what? Until the period of time being talked about (even if it is never specified) is over. This type usage, by the way, can be found in numerous languages around the world. Anyway, the most basic meaning of עד is not "forever," but is the prepositional idea of "to the point of." Hope this helps, Paul Zellmer -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of fred burlingame Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 10:44 AM To: K Randolph Cc: B-Hebrew Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Song of Songs 1:12 Hello Karl: Does not the little word עד mean forever? Witness 1 chronicles 23:13. http://www.biblestudytools.com/1-chronicles/23-13.html I observe the greek text seems a bit closer to your understanding of the word as "until." http://apostolic.interlinearbible.org/1_chronicles/23.htm But just what do the all important hebrew words mean, עד עולם ? http://www.tanach.us/Tanach.xml#Home regards, fred burlingame On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 5:24 PM, K Randolph <[email protected]> wrote: > Song of Songs 1:12, what does it mean? > > > The phrase עד אשר means “until” indicating the completion of an action, > either time wise, or the desired result has been achieved. _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
