Lee Dillion:

>"The Soul is everlasting (attanam niccam)." -- AN 5.24

David has already identified the other snippets. At AN 5.24 there is no
mention of either attaa or of nicca. Nor is the expression anywhere else on
the Sixth Council Tipitaka CD. Actually it isn't even grammatical. The form
attaa is used for the subject of a sentence. Attaana.m is the accusative
form of attaa, used for the direct object, though in practice usually the
functional equivalent of a reflexive pronoun.

E.g.

Purisassa hi jaatassa
ku.thaarii jaayate mukhe,
yaaya chindati *attaana.m*
baalo dubbhaasita.m bha.na.m

Surely in the mouth of a man, when born, an axe is born, with which a fool
cuts *himself*, saying a badly-spoken (utterance).
(Sn 657. KR Norman trans.)

"The soul is everlasting" would be something like "attaa nicco"; perhaps
"jiivo nicco" if the speaker is a Jain.

Such a phrase is in fact found in the Suttas, but only in descriptions of
wrong view and the manner of its arising, e.g. in the Brahmajaala and
Sabbaasava Suttas.

E.g.

'Yo me aya.m attaa vado vedeyyo tatra tatra kalyaa.napaapakaana.m
kammaana.m vipaaka.m pa.tisa.mvedeti; so kho pana me aya.m *attaa nicco*
dhuvo sassato avipari.naamadhammo, sassatisama.m tatheva .thassatii' ti.
Ida.m vuccati, bhikkhave, di.t.thigata.m di.t.thigahana.m
di.t.thikantaara.m di.t.thivisuuka.m di.t.thivipphandita.m
di.t.thisa.myojana.m.
(M i 8)

'It is this self of mine that speaks and feels and experiences here and
there the result of good and bad actions; but this *self of mine is
permanent*, everlasting, not subject to change, and it will endure as long
as eternity.' This speculative view, bhikkhus, is called the thicket of
views, the wilderness of views, the contortion of views, the vacillation of
views, the fetter of views.
(Nyanamoli/Bodhi trans. p 92-3)

I don't have time to examine the other passages today, but will return to
them at the earliest opportunity.

Best wishes,

Robert