Word

φθάνω

phthánō · G5348 · Greek · 7 occurrences

See all 7 in Search

Meanings

to come to, to reach, to arrive

To move toward and to arrive at a point

Examples
2 Corinthians 10:14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;
to come/go prior to, to come/go beforehand, to precede

To come/go prior to some other event, normally one involving a similar type of movement

Examples
1 Thessalonians 4:15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
to come to be, to attain, to achieve

To attain or arrive at a particular state

Examples
Romans 9:31 however, Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
Philippians 3:16 however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
to happen to already, to come upon, to come upon already

To happen to someone prior to a particular point in time

Examples
Matthew 12:28 “But if I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 11:20 “But if I cast out the demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
1 Thessalonians 2:16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always reach the limit of their sins. But wrath has come upon them fully.

How it’s used In 5 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Who or what does itSubject

7 occurrences in 5 groups

βασιλείαkingdom, reign 2
Not stated: we 2
ἐγώI, we 1
ἸσραήλIsrael 1
ὀργήwrath, anger 1

What it acts on, or what is saidObject

2 occurrences in 2 groups

κοιμάωto sleep 1
ὅςwho, which, that 1

With prepositionsPrepositional phrases

5 occurrences in 6 groups

ἐπίon+ σύyou 2
εἰςto+ νόμοςlaw, the Law 1
εἰςto+ τέλοςend 1
ἐνin+ εὐαγγέλιονthe gospel, the good news 1
ἐπίon+ αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 1
ἄχριuntil+ σύyou 1

With adverbsAdverbs

2 occurrences in 1 groups

οὐnot 2

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

1 occurrences in 1 groups

εἰςto 1

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Near synonyms 1 word

καταντάω katantáō · G2658 · to come to, to reach, to arrive: Both verbs converge on the sense of arriving at or attaining something. φθάνω carries a nuance of temporal priority — arriving before or ahead of something — while καταντάω focuses on reaching an endpoint or destination. In contexts where temporal precedence is not in view, the two verbs substantially overlap in meaning.

Semantic domains 4 entries

To happen to already, to come upon, to come upon already13.123: Matthew 12:28 has Jesus say, “if I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”.
To come to be, to attain, to achieve13.16: Philippians 3:16 urges believers to keep living “by that same standard to which we have attained”.
To come/go prior to, to come/go beforehand, to precede15.141: 1 Thessalonians 4:15 says “we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep”.
To come to, to reach, to arrive15.84: 2 Corinthians 10:14 says “we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ”.

Word family 2 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

φθάνωphthánō · G5348προφθάνω prophthánō · G4399 · to be ahead of, to anticipate, to be in advance · 1×

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon : 1 aorist ἔφθασα (Winer's Grammar, § 15 under the word); perfect ἐφθακα (1 Thess 2:16 L…

: 1 aorist ἔφθασα (Winer's Grammar, § 15 under the word); perfect ἐφθακα (1 Thess 2:16 L text WH marginal reading); from Homer down;
1. to come before, precede, anticipate: ἡμεῖς οὐ μή φθάσωμεν (see μή, IV. 2) τούς κοιμηθέντας, we shall not get the start of those who have fallen asleep, i. e. we shall not attain to the fellowship of Christ sooner than the dead, nor have precedence in blessedness, 1 Thess 4:15; ἔφθασεν ἐπ' αὐτούς ἡ ὀργή, (God's penal) wrath came upon them unexpectedly, 1 Thess 2:16; ἔφθασεν ἐφ' ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, the kingdom of God has come upon you sooner than you expected, Mt 12:28; Lk 11:20; (but all the preceding examples except the first are referred by the majority of recent interpretations to the following heading; — a meaning especially common when the verb is construed with prepositions).
2. in the Alex. (and other later) writings the idea of priority disappears, to come to, arrive at: εἰς τί, Phm 3:16; to reach, attain to, a thing, Rom 9:31; ἄχρι τίνος, 2 Cor 10:14; (τίνι, to a thing, Tobit 5:19; ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, Test xii. Patr., p. 530 (i. e. test. Rub. 5 at the end); ἡ μεγαλωσύνη σου ἐμεγαλύνθη καί ἔφθασεν εἰς τόν οὐρανόν, Dan 4:19, Theod. (cf. 17, 25; φθάνειν ἕως τῶν οὐρανῶν, 2 Chr 28:9; ἔφθασεν ὁ μήν ὁ ἕβδομος, 2 Esdr. 3:1; Philo de mund. opif. § 1; de legg. alleg. 3:76; de confus. lingg. § 29; Plutarch, apotheg. Lacon. § 28; de Alex. s. virt. s. fort. orat. 2:5. Cf. Sophocles Lexicon, under the word; Geldart, Modern Greek, p. 206; Winer's Grammar, § 2, 1 b.)). (Compare: προφθάνω.)

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain

Topical studies with this word 4 entries

State2 occurrences Happen3 occurrences Come, Come To, Arrive1 occurrence Come/Go Prior To1 occurrence

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0