ἐκολόβωσεν

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἐκολόβωσεν

   e-ko-LO-bō-sen

   he cut short
2. sentence🔊 καὶ εἰ μὴ ἐκολόβωσεν κύριος τὰς ἡμέρας οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ ἀλλὰ διὰ τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς οὓς ἐξελέξατο ἐκολόβωσεν τὰς ἡμέρας

   KAI ei MÊ e-ko-LO-bō-sen KY-ree-os tas hê-ME-ras ouk AN e-SŌ-thē PA-sa SARX al-LA di-A tous ek-lek-TOUS hous ek-se-LEK-sa-to e-ko-LO-bō-sen tas hê-ME-ras

   and if not he cut short Lord the days not would would be saved all flesh but because of the elect whom he chose he cut short the days

Exegesis

The main verb ekolobosen {ἐκολόβωσεν | ekolóbōsen} with kyrios {κύριος | ký-rios} as its implied subject describes decisive divine intervention in history by “cutting short” the days, referring to a period of tribulation indicated by the repeated object tas hēmeras {τὰς ἡμέρας | tàs hē-mé-ras}.

The repetition of ekolobosen {ἐκολόβωσεν | ekolóbōsen} at the end forms a rhetorical inclusio around the verse and highlights that the shortening of the days is both the means and the outcome of the Lord’s protective action for the elect. In translation, the conditional structure is preserved (“if… had not… no… would have”), while the idiom “all flesh” is rendered more transparently in the dynamic version, and the causal “because of/for the sake of” is maintained to show that the elect are the reason for this intervention.