Senses
1. arrive, come upon, reach — To arrive at a place or state, to come upon someone, to reach or attain a destination or condition. This sense covers the dominant NT usage of phthano where the emphasis is on arrival or the coming of something upon someone. Used of the kingdom of God 'coming upon' people (Matt 12:28 ephthasen -- 'the kingdom of God has come upon you'; Luke 11:20 ephthasen -- same saying). Used of divine wrath arriving (1 Thess 2:16 ephthasen -- 'wrath has come upon them at last'). Used of Israel not quite reaching/attaining the law of righteousness (Rom 9:31 ephthasen -- 'did not arrive at that law'). Used of Paul and his companions physically reaching Corinth in their missionary travels (2 Cor 10:14 ephthasamen -- 'we came first/reached as far as you'). Used of attaining a spiritual standard (Phil 3:16 ephthasamen -- 'to what we have attained'). Multilingual glosses converge: Arabic balaghat/waslna/ja'a, Spanish ha llegado/llego/alcanzamos, French devancer, German zuvorkommen, Hebrew higgi'a/hissagnu, Korean imhayeotda/dahchyeotda/ireureonna, Hindi pahunchna. 6×
AR["أَدْرَكَكُمْ","بَلَغْنا","تَبْلُغْ","جاءَ","قَد-بَلَغَت","وَصَلْنا"]·ben["এসে-গেছে","এসে-পড়েছে","এসেছে","পৌঁছল","পৌঁছেছি"]·DE["zuvorkommen","ἔφθασεν"]·EN["arrived","has-come","has-come-upon","we-came-first","we-have-attained"]·FR["devancer","zuvorkommen"]·heb["בָּאָה","הִגִּיעַ","הִגִּיעָה","הִגַּעְנוּ","הִשַּׂגְנוּ,"]·HI["अअ-गय","पहुँच-गयी-है","पहुंचा","पहुनच-गयअ","हम-पहुंचे","हुम-पहुनचे,"]·ID["datang","kami-telah-tiba","kita telah capai","sampai","sudah-sampai","telah-datang"]·IT["arrivare-prima","ephthasamen","ephthasen","precedere"]·jav["dumugi.","kita-dumugi","sampun-dumugi","sampun-rawuh"]·KO["닿았다","이르렀노라,","이르지","임하였다","임하였으니","임했다"]·PT["alcançou","alcançou.","chegamos"]·RU["-достиг","Настиг","достигли","достигло"]·ES["alcanzamos","ha-llegado","llegamos","llegó"]·SW["haikufikia","imewajia","tulilofikia","tuliwafikia","umewajia"]·TR["gelmiştir","ulastik","ulaştı","ulaştık"]·urd["آ-پہنچی-ہے","پہنچ-گیا-ہے","پہنچی۔","پہنچے"]
2. precede, come before — To precede or go before others, to arrive ahead of someone else. This classical sense of phthano (to anticipate, outstrip) is preserved in 1 Thess 4:15 where Paul assures believers that 'we who are alive, who remain until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep' (phthasomen). The emphasis here is not on arrival per se but on temporal priority -- not getting ahead of or going before the dead in Christ. The multilingual glosses confirm this distinct nuance: Arabic nasbiqa ('we will precede'), Spanish precederemos ('we will precede'), Hebrew naqdim ('we will get ahead'), Korean apseo ('ahead/before'), Hindi pehle pahunchein ('arrive first'). German zuvorkommen ('to anticipate/forestall') captures this well. This represents the older, more classical meaning of the verb that survives in this one NT passage. 1×
AR["نَسْبِقَ"]·ben["আগে-যাব"]·DE["zuvorkommen"]·EN["will-precede"]·FR["zuvorkommen"]·heb["נַקְדִּים"]·HI["पेहले-पहुचैन"]·ID["mendahului"]·IT["phthasōmen"]·jav["ngrumiyini"]·KO["앞서지-않을-것이다"]·PT["precederemos"]·RU["опередим"]·ES["precederemos"]·SW["tawatangulia"]·TR["öne-geçeceğiz"]·urd["آگے-ہوں-گے"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
φθάνω, Refs 8th c.BC+, imperfect ἔφθανον Refs 5th c.BC+: future φθήσομαι Refs 8th c.BC+; but φθάσω [ᾰ] Refs 5th c.BC+: aorist ἔφθᾰσα Refs 5th c.BC+; optative 3rd.pers. singular φθάσειε Refs 5th c.BC+ (this tense prevails in later Gk., Refs 2nd c.BC+; Doric dialect ἔφθασσα Refs 3rd c.BC+aorist is ἔφθην,Refs 5th c.BC+, but the more usual form in Refs 5th c.BC+; plural ἔφθημεν, -ητε, -ησαν, Refs 5th…