Properly, concealed , i.e. the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity ; frequentatively, adverbial (especially with prepositional prefix) always
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עוֹלָם ('ôlām) is a Hebrew duration noun used for remote antiquity, continuing time, a lifetime, perpetuity, or eternity. Psalm 90:2 says God is God from everlasting to everlasting, and Psalm 103:17 says the LORD's covenant love is from everlasting to everlasting toward those who fear him.
Reader summary
Full entry for עוֹלָם (H5769) · Open the biblical lexicon
עוֹלָם ('ôlām) is a Hebrew duration noun used for remote antiquity, continuing time, a lifetime, perpetuity, or eternity. Psalm 90:2 says God is God from everlasting to everlasting, and Psalm 103:17 says the LORD's covenant love is from everlasting to everlasting toward those who fear him.
The BSB source-word alignment has 439 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include forever (111), . . . (97), endures forever (43), everlasting (19), an everlasting (11).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (143), Isaiah (46), Jeremiah (35), 1 Chronicles (25).
עוֹלָם ('ôlām) is a Hebrew duration noun used for remote antiquity, continuing time, a lifetime, perpetuity, or eternity. Psalm 90:2 says God is God from everlasting to everlasting, and Psalm 103:17 says the Lord's covenant love is from everlasting to everlasting toward those who fear him. In such God-centered poetry, the term contributes to confession of divine eternity and enduring faithfulness. Yet the noun does not carry one mathematically identical duration into every occurrence.
Several legal and narrative texts show contextual limits. Exodus 21:6 and Deuteronomy 15:17 say a servant may serve “forever,” where the human relationship is bounded by mortal life. First Samuel 1:22 says Samuel will remain before the Lord forever, describing lifelong dedication. Genesis 6:3 says God's Spirit will not contend or remain with humanity forever before naming 120 years. These uses make long duration or life tenure more appropriate than abstract infinity.
Other passages speak of enduring covenant, worship, word, and resurrection. Genesis 9:12 calls the rainbow a sign of an everlasting covenant for generations. Exodus 12:14 calls Passover an everlasting statute within Israel's covenant calendar. Isaiah 40:8 says God's word stands forever, and Daniel 12:2 contrasts everlasting life with everlasting shame. These claims can genuinely reach beyond ordinary human duration, but H5769 alone cannot decide how every covenant ordinance relates to later covenant fulfillment or settle every philosophical question about time and eternity.
'Ôlām reaches backward to ancient time and forward across a lifetime, generations, covenantal perpetuity, or unending divine and eschatological duration. Context determines whether forever is humanly bounded or theologically ultimate.
The rainbow is given as the sign of an everlasting covenant between God and living creatures for all generations.
God's covenant name is identified as his name forever and his memorial through generations.
A servant whose decision is formalized at the door serves permanently, with forever functioning within a mortal social relationship.
Hannah intends Samuel to appear before the Lord and remain there permanently as a lifelong dedication.
The prayer contrasts human generations and mortality with God as God from everlasting to everlasting.
Generations come and go while the earth remains, using enduring continuity within the Teacher's observation of recurring life.
Human life withers like grass, but the word of Israel's God stands forever.
Those awakening from the dust face everlasting life or everlasting shame and contempt.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. properly, concealed , i.e. the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity ; frequentatively, adverbial (especially with prepositional prefix) always
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
עוֹלָם is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
'Ôlām teaches patience with Scripture's time language. Psalm 90 can proclaim God's eternity without forcing every legal forever to mean abstract infinity. A lifelong servant relationship, Samuel's dedication, an enduring land arrangement, and everlasting life belong to different subjects and horizons. This precision protects both confidence and humility. God's name, covenant faithfulness, love, and word outlast human generations, while covenant statutes must be interpreted within the covenant to which they belong and the canon's account of fulfillment.
Jeremiah 7 also warns that ancient promise cannot be used as shelter for injustice and false worship. Endurance language should deepen faithful hope, not enable date-setting, careless proof texts, or claims that every present institution can never change.
Ps.90.2
H5769 marks extended duration toward past or future. The subject and construction decide whether ancient time, a lifetime, generations, perpetuity, or eternity is intended.
New Testament language for the age, eternal life, enduring word, everlasting kingdom, and final judgment develops the canonical account of duration. Greek age-language and Hebrew 'ôlām overlap in some translations but do not create a one-to-one rule for every phrase.