εἶναι

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 εἶναι

   EI-nai

   to be
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 μεταβαλόμενοι ἔλεγον αὐτὸν εἶναι θεόν.

   me-ta-ba-LO-me-noi E-le-gon au-TON EI-nai the-ON

   changing they were saying him to be a god
3. sentence🔊 οἱ δὲ προσδοκῶν αὐτὸν μέλλειν πίμπρασθαι ἢ καταπίπτειν ἄφνω νεκρόν ἐπὶ πολλὴν δὲ αὐτῶν προσδοκώντων καὶ θεωρούντων μηδὲν ἄτοπον εἰς αὐτὸν γινόμενον, μεταβαλόμενοι ἔλεγον αὐτὸν εἶναι θεόν.

   hoi de pros-do-KON au-TON MEL-lein PIM-pras-thai ê ka-ta-PIP-tein AF-nô ne-KRON e-PI pol-LÊN de au-TÔN pros-do-KON-ton KAI the-ô-ROU-ntôn mê-DEN A-to-pon eis au-TON gi-NO-me-non me-ta-ba-LO-me-noi E-le-gon au-TON EI-nai the-ON

   the but expecting him to be about to swell up or to fall down suddenly dead for much but of them waiting and seeing nothing out of place to him happening changing they were saying him to be a god

Exegesis

The clause auton einai theon {αὐτὸν εἶναι θεόν | autòn eî-nai the-ón} functions as the content of their saying, an object infinitive construction declaring Paul to be ‘a god.’ In translation, the sequence of imperfect verbs and participles is rendered with progressive English forms (“were expecting,” “kept waiting,” “were saying”) and temporal connectors (“after a long expectation,” “after watching for a long time”) to reflect the developing stages of expectation, observation, and reinterpretation without overloading the English clause structure.

Root and etymology

epimeno🔊 ἐπιμένωepsilon–pi–iota–mu–epsilon–nu–omega

“to remain, stay on”

• 🔊 ἐπέμενενepemenenhe stayed onActs 18:18