עוֹלָם (Olam)

MEANINGA long duration, an age; 'forever', 'everlasting'. Strong's H5769 reads it 'properly, concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity'. Of God it means truly eternal.

GRAMMARH5769. The vanishing point in either direction. Applied to created things it can mean a very long age: a servant serving 'for ever' (Exod 21:6) means his lifetime.

SIGNIFICANCEApplied to God it means eternity itself, 'from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God' (Ps 90:2). Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God 'hath set the world [olam] in their heart', eternity in the human heart, the sense that we were made for more than time. The word that measures God's years is the word for the longing He put in us.

KEY VERSE / SCRIPTURESGenesis 21:33 (the everlasting God); Psalm 90:2 (from everlasting to everlasting); Ecclesiastes 3:11 (set the world in their heart); Exodus 21:6 (a servant for ever, the bounded sense).

CROSS-REFERENCESעַד-עוֹלָם ad-olam · /answers/olam