The Aramaic noun alam is the Chaldean counterpart of Hebrew olam (H5769) and carries the same core meaning: eternity, an indefinite expanse of time, the perpetual or everlasting. It appears in the Aramaic portions of Daniel in the great doxologies that punctuate the narrative.
The great doxologies of Daniel 2:20 and 4:3 declare that God's kingdom endures 'forever and ever' (alam we-alam) — an intensification conveying the absolute endlessness of divine sovereignty. These declarations emerge from Daniel and even Nebuchadnezzar after his humbling.
Daniel contrasts the temporality of human empires with the eternal kingdom of God. What is alam — truly lasting — belongs to God alone. This shapes Christian eschatology: 'the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord' (Revelation 11:15).