| 49. Linguistic Exegesis The clause begins with the verb diephereto {διεφέρετο | diephé-re-to} ‘was being spread’, an imperfect middle/passive indicative that underscores ongoing, repeated diffusion of the message in past time. The postpositive conjunction de {δὲ | dé} links this development to the preceding narrative, marking it as a further consequence of the prior events. The articular noun ho logos {ὁ λόγος | ho ló-gos} ‘the word’ functions as the grammatical subject, specified by the genitive tou kuriou {τοῦ κυρίου | toû kyríou} ‘of the Lord’, which denotes both the origin and the authority of the message. The preposition di᾽ with the genitive in di᾽ holēs tēs chōras {δι᾽ ὅλης τῆς χώρας | diá hó-lēs tês chó-ras} has a distributive sense, meaning “throughout,” and highlights the comprehensive geographic spread. Greek word order places the finite verb first, foregrounding the action of spreading, followed by the subject and its genitive qualifier; in English this is rendered with a subject–verb order (“the word of the Lord was being spread”) while preserving both the imperfective aspect (“was being spread” / “kept spreading”) and the emphasis on the message’s reach “throughout all the region.” |