Word study

Eternal

2 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

In brief

Eternal is nearly always the Greek aiōnios, from aiōn, an age: it describes what belongs to the age to come and has no end. The matching Hebrew word is olam, long duration reaching back or forward beyond sight, often translated "forever" or "everlasting."

Written and reviewed by our editorial team.

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “eternal”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “eternal” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עוֹלָם ôlâmlong duration, antiquity, futuritytranslated this way 7 times of its 341 uses · Strong’s H5769Noun  ·  Translated: forever 114, everlasting 60, endures forever 43, permanent 38

    Genesis 17:8 And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing— all the land of Canaan— as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

    1 Kings 10:9 Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

    Full study and all 324 verses →
  • נֶצַח netsacheminence, enduring, everlastingness, perpetuitytranslated this way 2 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H5331Noun  ·  Translated: forever 16, always 3

    Psalm 9:6 The enemy has come to eternal ruin, and You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has vanished.

    Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

    Full study and all 31 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • αἰώνιος aiṓnioseternal, unendingtranslated this way 65 times of its 70 uses · Strong’s G166Adjective  ·  Translated: eternal 65, began 2, ages past 1, good 1

    Matthew 18:8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

    Mark 3:29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.”

    Full study and all 68 verses →
  • ἀΐδιος aḯdioseternaltranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G126Adjective  ·  Translated: eternal 2

    Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.

    Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling— these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • αἰών aiṓnan age, a cycle of timetranslated this way 2 times of its 108 uses · Strong’s G165Noun  ·  Translated: forever 43, age 22, ever 21, ages 5

    Ephesians 3:11 according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

    Full study and all 85 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.