ἐπώλουν

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἐπώλουν

   e-PÔ-loun

   they were selling
2. sentence🔊 ὁμοίως καθὼς ἐγένετο ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Λώτ ἤσθιον ἔπινον ἠγόραζον ἐπώλουν ἐφύτευον ᾠκοδόμουν.

   ho-MOI-os ka-THOS e-GHE-ne-to en tais hê-ME-rais LOT ÊS-thi-on E-pi-non ê-GO-ra-dzon e-PÔ-loun e-PHY-teu-on ōi-ko-DO-moun

   Likewise just as it happened in the days Lot they were eating they were drinking they were buying they were selling they were planting they were building

Exegesis

The series of imperfect verbs—ēsthion {ἤσθιον | ē-sthí-on} ‘they were eating’, epinon {ἔπινον | é-pi-non} ‘they were drinking’, ēgōrazon {ἠγόραζον | ē-gó-ra-zon} ‘they were buying’, epōloun {ἐπώλουν | epṓ-loun} ‘they were selling’, ephuteuon {ἐφύτευον | ephú-teu-on} ‘they were planting’, oikodomoun {ᾠκοδόμουν | ō-ko-dó-moun} ‘they were building’—are arranged paratactically without conjunctions, producing a piling-up effect that emphasizes continuous, routine activities. The imperfect aspect in each verb portrays these actions as ongoing customary behavior, not isolated events, which heightens the contrast with the sudden, decisive judgment that the broader passage describes. In translation, this durative nuance is carried by progressive English forms (“were eating,” “were drinking,” etc.), and the pairing of verbs into everyday-life domains (consumption, commerce, agriculture, construction) reflects the Greek list structure while remaining idiomatic.