Palai marks an event, condition, or designation as belonging to an earlier or remote time.

The attested use consistently marks a temporal relation to an earlier time: prior thought and cleansing, speech to the fathers, an earlier designation, and actions or death placed farther back in time.

1. Earlier time or remote past · dominant

   The adverb places matters at an earlier point: in 2 Corinthians 12:19 the APB renders prior thinking as "long thought," while 2 Peter 1:9 refers to cleansing of "former sins" and Hebrews 1:1 to God speaking "of old." In Jude 1:4 it locates designation before the stated judgment; in Luke 10:13 and Matthew 11:21 it places hypothetical repentance earlier, and in Mark 15:44 it frames Pilate's question about whether Jesus had died earlier.

   2 Corinthians 12:192 Peter 1:9Hebrews 1:1Jude 1:4Luke 10:13Mark 15:44

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB varies its temporal wording, using "long thought," "former," "of old," "long ago," and "already." These phrases show the verse-level presentation of earlier time rather than fixed English equivalents.