[B-Greek] Forever and ever

James Ernest jdernest at alum.bu.edu
Mon Jun 28 00:34:23 EDT 2010


Interesting questions. No doubt "to the ages of the ages" means
eternity in Byzantine lit, as Steve P. says, but what about NT and OT?
Seems to me the phrase is a strong rhetorical affirmation of
irreversible finality, or permanence. The logic of permanence means
one thing with a positive, something else with a negative. Maybe to go
up in smoke is to be gone, and to go up in smoke forever is simply to
be gone forever?

Maybe someone has James Barr's *Biblical Words for Time* handy and can
remind us what he says about the phrase?

James Ernest



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