τοῦ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 τοῦ

   tou

   of the
2. sentence🔊 ἐκάλουν τε τὸν Βαρναβᾶν Δία τὸν δὲ Παῦλον Ἑρμῆν ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ ἡγούμενος τοῦ λόγου

   e-KA-loun te ton bar-na-BAN di-A ton de PAU-lon her-MÊN e-pei-DÊ au-TOS ÊN ho hê-GOU-me-nos tou LO-gou

   they were calling and the Barnabas Zeus the but Paul Hermes because he was the leading of the word

Exegesis

The verb en {ἦν | ên} links the subject to the predicate nominative phrase ho hegoumenos tou logou {ὁ ἡγούμενος τοῦ λόγου | ho hēgoúmenos tou lógou}, in which the participle hegoumenos {ἡγούμενος | hēgoúmenos} operates as a substantive “the one leading” or “the leader,” modified by the genitive tou logou {τοῦ λόγου | toû lógou} ‘of the word, of the speech,’ specifying leadership in the sphere of public speaking. This genitive is best taken as an objective or descriptive genitive, indicating that Paul led with respect to the spoken message. In translation, the Greek participial structure is rendered as a finite copula plus a noun phrase (“was the one leading the word” / “was the main speaker”) to maintain clarity and natural English flow, while preserving the causal relationship introduced by epeide.