Footnote

b Although the Hebrew word ‘oh·lam is rendered by some as “forever,” according to Hebrew authority William Gesenius, it means “hidden time, i. e. obscure and long, of which the beginning or end is uncertain or indefinite.” Nelson’s Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament adds: “With the preposition ‘ad, the word can mean ‘into the indefinite future.’”​—Compare Deuteronomy 23:3; 1 Samuel 1:22.