phthano denotes reaching or coming to a person, goal, or point, and once describes being ahead of others.

The dominant attested use describes reaching or coming to a stated person, goal, or situation: the gospel workers reach their audience, a pursued law is not reached, and wrath or God’s kingdom has come upon people. A single future-oriented statement uses it for not being ahead of those who have fallen asleep.

1. Reaching or coming to a stated point · dominant

   The aorist forms mark arrival at or attainment of the clause’s stated endpoint. In 2 Corinthians 10:14 the APB renders the workers as having “reached you”; in Romans 9:31 it renders Israel as not having “arrive[d] at the law,” and in Philippians 3:16 it speaks of what has been “already attained.” In Matthew 12:28 and Luke 11:20, the kingdom of God has “come upon you,” while in 1 Thessalonians 2:16 wrath has “come upon them at last.”

   2 Corinthians 10:14Philippians 3:16Romans 9:31Matthew 12:28Luke 11:201 Thessalonians 2:16
2. Being ahead of others · rare

   In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, the first-person plural aorist active subjunctive occurs in the statement that those alive at the Lord’s coming will “by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.” The comparison places the action in relation to another group rather than a destination.

   1 Thessalonians 4:15

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the verses, the APB presents the action with “reached,” “arrive at,” “attained,” and “come upon,” and in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 with “precede.” These are verse-level renderings rather than fixed word-for-word equivalents.