πρό

πρό — pró

πρό, a preposition followed by the genitive (Latinpro) (from Homer down), the Sept. chiefly for לִפְנֵי, before; used a. of place: πρό τῶν θυρῶν, τῆς θύρας, etc., Act 5:23 R G;; Jas 5:9; by a Hebraism, πρό προσώπου with the genitive of a person before (the face of) one (who is following) (Buttmann, 319 (274)): Mat 11:10; Mar 1:2; Luk 1:76; Luk 7:27; Luk 9:52; Luk 10:1 (Mal 3:1; Zec 14:20; Deu 3:18).

b. of Time: πρό τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, Act 5:36; Act 21:38; (πρό τοῦ πάσχα, Joh 11:55); according to a later Greek idiom, πρό ἕξ ἡμερῶν τοῦ πάσχα, properly, before six days reckoning from the Passover, which is equivalent to ἕξ ἡμέρας πρό τοῦ πάσχα, on the sixth day before the Passover, Joh 12:1 (πρό δύο ἐτῶν τοῦ σεισμοῦ, Amo 1:1; πρό μιᾶς ἡμέρας τῆς Μαρδοχαϊκῆς ἡμέρας, 2Ma 15:36; examples from secular writings are cited by Winers Grammar, 557 (518); (cf. Buttmann, § 131, 11); from ecclesiastical writings by Hilgenfeld, Die Evangelien etc., pp. 298, 302; also his Paschastreit der alten Kirche, p. 221f; (cf. Sophocles' Lexicon, under the word πρό, 1 and 2)); (πρό τῆς ἑορτῆς, Joh 13:1); πρό καιροῦ, Mat 8:29; 1Co 4:5; τῶν αἰώνων, 1Co 2:7; παντός τοῦ αἰῶνος, Jud 1:25 L T Tr WH; ἐτῶν δεκατεσσάρων, (fourteen years ago), 2Co 12:2; add, 2Ti 1:9; 2Ti 4:21; Tit 1:2; τοῦ ἀρίστου, Luk 11:38; κατακλυσμοῦ, Mat 24:38; πρό τῆς μεταθέσεως, Heb 11:5; πρό καταβολῆς κόσμου, Joh 17:24; Eph 1:4; 1Pe 1:20; πρό πάντων, prior to all created things, Col 1:17; (πρό τούτων πάντων (Rev. ἁπάντων), Luk 21:12); by a Hebraism, πρό προσώπου with the genitive of a thing is used of time for the simple πρό (Winers Grammar, § 65, 4b.; (Buttmann, 319 (274))), Act 13:24 ((literally, before the face of his entering in)). πρό with the genitive of a person: Joh 5:7; Joh 10:8 (not Tdf.); Rom 16:7; οἱ πρό τίνος, those that existed before one, Mat 5:12; with a predicate nominative added, Gal 1:17. πρό with the genitive of an infinitive that has the article, Latinante quam (before, before that) followed by a finite verb (Buttmann, § 140, 11; Winer's Grammar, 329 (309)): Mat 6:8; Luk 2:21; Luk 22:15; Joh 1:48 (49);; Act 23:15; Gal 2:12; Gal 3:23.

c. of superiority or pre-eminence (Winer's Grammar, 372 (349)): πρό πάντων, above all things, Jas 5:12; 1Pe 4:8.

d. In Composition, πρό marks α. place: προαύλιον; motion forward (Latinporro), προβαίνω, προβάλλω, etc.; before another who follows, in advance, προάγω, πρόδρομος, προπέρμπω, προτρέχω, etc.; in public view, openly, πρόδηλος, πρόκειμαι. β. time: before this, previously, προαμαρτάνω; in reference to the time of an occurrence, beforehand, in advance, προβλέπω, προγινώσκω, προθέσμιος, πρωρίζω, etc. γ. superiority or preference: προαιρέομαι. (Cf. Herm. ad Vig., p. 658.)