Hello Paul: Thanks for your nice and explanatory comments.
The question remains however. The niv committee, in its wisdom, instructs that the little phrase עד עולם means "forever." http://www.biblestudytools.com/1-chronicles/23-13.html http://www.biblegateway.com/niv/translators-notes/ Is that meaning of the hebrew phrase correct?... I await your advices. regards, fred burlingame On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 2:17 PM, Paul Zellmer <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > > > _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
