עֵילוֹם

# עֵילוֹם (elom) — "Ever" The Hebrew word עֵילוֹם appears only once in the biblical text, making it an extremely rare lexical item. Its definition as "ever" places it in the category of temporal adverbs—words that express time-related concepts. The singular occurrence means that scholars have limited textual context to draw upon when determining its precise nuance or how it functioned within Hebrew's system of expressing duration and timelessness. The rarity of this word raises questions about its relationship to other Hebrew temporal expressions. Hebrew possessed more common ways to express concepts of perpetuity and eternity (such as עוֹלָם, *olam*), so the unique appearance of עֵילוֹם suggests it may have been either archaic, dialectal, or used for a specific stylistic purpose in its single biblical occurrence. Without additional occurrences to establish patterns of usage, meaning ranges, or grammatical associations, scholars can confirm only that it functioned as a temporal modifier meaning "ever," though its precise theological or literary significance remains difficult to determine from the lexical data alone.