Erchomai

A. Erchomai is capable of a wide variety of meanings through the addition of various prefixes.
1. dia, “through”
2. ek, “out of”
3. eis, “within, in”
4. kata, “down”
5. para, “beside”
6. apo, “away from, off”
7. peri, “around”
8. pros, “face to face”
9. sun, “with”
10. ana, “up”
11. anti, “face to face, against”
12. epi, “upon”
13. pro, “before”
B. It is a general word expressing motion.
C. The motion may either be toward the speaker in which case it means to come or away from the speaker in
which case it means go.
D. English has 2 separate words to express these ideas, but Greek can use the same word.
E. Erchomai may be used with reference to persons, animals, or things which are coming and going.
F. The verb has the following extensive list of cognates:
1. anerchomai (a*nevrcomai) (verb), “go up, come up, ascend.”
2. antiparerchomai (a*ntiparevrcomai) (verb), “to pass by on the opposite side or other side of the road.”
3. aperchomai (a*pevrcomai) (verb), “go away, go, pass away, go out and spread, go in search of.”
4. diexerchomai (diexevrcomai) (verb), “pass through, come out.”
5. dierchomai (dievrcomai) (verb), “go through, come, go, go about.”
6. exerchomai (e*xevrcomai) (verb), “go out, come out, issue, depart, send forth.”
7. eiserchomai (ei*sevrcomai) (verb), “come in, come into, go in, go into, enter.”
8. epanerchomai (e*panevrcomai) (verb), “return, come back again.”
9. epeiserchomai (e*peisevrcomai) (verb), “rush in suddenly (with force).”
10. eperchomai (e*pevrcomai) (verb), “come upon, approach, overtake.”
11. katerchomai (katevrcomai) (verb), “come down, go down, come from.”
12. pareiserchomai (pareisevrcomai) (verb), “slip in, come in, enter by stealth.”
13. parerchomai (parevrcomai) (verb), “go by, pass by, pass away, come to an end, elapse, go through, perish,
neglect.”
14. perierchomai (perievrcomai) (verb), “go around, encompass, wander about.”
15. proerchomai (proevrcomai) (verb), “proceed, lead, go prior to.”
16. proserchomai (prosevrcomai) (verb), “come to, go to, approach, agree with.”
17. suneiserchomai (suneisevrcomai) (verb), “enter together with, go in with.”
18. sunerchomai (sunevrcomai) (verb), “to come together, assemble, sexual union, to travel with.”
G. Classical and LXX Usage
1. Liddel and Scott list the following classical meanings (pages 694-695):
a. start, set out
b. come or go
c. to go a journey, arrive at, come, come to, come to aid, relieve one
d. go to
e. of any kind of motion: to rise out of the sea, have come, of birds, of ships, of spears or javelins, of
natural phenomena, as rivers, wind and storm, clouds, stars, rise, time, of events and conditions, of
feelings, go, of sounds, of battle, of things sent or taken, of danger or evil, of reports, commands, of
property which comes or passes to a person by bequest, conveyance, gift, pass through the same point
f. Post Homeric phrases: come to speech with, come into danger, arrived at that time of life, come to an
impotent conclusion, to be numbered, come to oneself, come within a little of, be near a thing, have
gone through the whole circle of duties, have fulfilled them all, of sexual intercourse, go in to her, to
him, of marriage, attack, depend upon or be concerned with
 2. Erchomai, with the Hellenistic future eleusomai, aorist elthon and eltha, perfect elelutha, occurs in secular
Greek from the time of Homer and also in the LXX.
3. It means to come or go, mostly in a literal sense.
4. The direction of movement is determined by prepositions like:
a. apo, “from”
b. eis, “into, to”
c. ek, “out of”
5. The stem of the word erch (erc) stands in “suppletive” connection with elth (elq), eluth (eluq) and
(ienai).
6. The word is used of both persons and inanimate objects.
7. Special relationships or nuances are given by prepositions or the context.
8. The word is used of the occurrence of natural events or fateful happenings, or of the rise of states of mind.
9. In the papyri it is also used for receipt of letters, for transferring, such as property by inheritance or
purchase, for making an agreement or for undertaking other enterprises.
10. The word is used in the LXX for 35 Hebrew words.
11. Its meanings is primarily local, but it also occurs in cultic statements, either generally for coming to divine
service or with proskunein, latreuein, luein for coming to the house of God, to the sanctuary or to
Jerusalem.
12. It is used of prayer, which comes to God (2 Ch. 30:27), prayer for the coming of the divine mercy.
13. The word is also used with reference to the coming of God, of His Word, of His angels and prophets to
men.
14. The word is used metaphorically in a temporal sense (1 Sm. 2:31; 2 Ki. 20:17 and often) and also of
destruction, which comes upon men (Prv. 1:26; 6:15).
15. In the LXX the word is often used of the coming of the Messiah (Ps. 118:26 [LXX 117:26]; Dn. 7:13).
16. It is also used of the coming of Satan (Jb. 2:1).
17. Another use is for the coming and going of ages (2 Ch. 21:19), or generations (Qoh. 1:4).
18. A very common use in the Psalms and prophets is for the coming of eschatologically decisive days (the
days of salvation and judgment).
19. Nations will come to the inheritance of God.
20. In Isaiah 32:15 there is a promise of salvation, which is related to the coming of the Spirit.
21. In the Psalms, Job and elsewhere it is strongly emphasized that evil, misfortune, suffering, tribulation and
death come over men, but so does good.
22. Yet the statements that evil and bad things come on men predominate.
23. One of the uses of this word in the papyri was to express the coming of the end.
24. The word is used of:
a. persons
b. birds
c. ships
d. spears
e. wind
f. storms
g. stars
h. time
i. events
j. feelings
k. sounds
l. danger
m. commands
25. A similar variety of subjects used with erchomai may found throughout the history of the word.
H. NT Usage
1. In the NT, as elsewhere in Greek literature, the term has the basic sense of coming and going.
2. The NT usage corresponds generally to usage in secular Greek and the LXX.
3. Most of the 631 NT occurrences (besides ca. 760 of the various compounds) mean come or go in the literal-
local sense.
4. The NT also uses the verb figuratively as it was used in speech of the time.
5. It is used indifferently of persons and things.
6. The coming often has the sense of appearing, of coming forward publicly, of coming on the scene.
7. It is often used of decisive events, of happenings, of natural phenomena, also of conditions, etc.
8. Moulton lists the following meanings of the word in the NT (The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised page
167):
a. to come
b. to go
c. to pass
9. The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon lists 2 basic NT meanings (pages 250-252):
a. to come
b. to go
10. Bauer, Gingrich and Danker also list the same 2 basic NT meanings (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature pages 310-311):
a. come, literally of persons, of time, of things and events; non-literal use of spiritual coming to God, of
states of being, in various prepositional combinations
b. go
11. Louw and Nida list the following NT meanings (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on
Semantic Domains volume 2):
a. to move from one place to another, either coming or going - ‘to come, to go’ (page 183).
b. to move toward or up to the reference point of the viewpoint character or event - ‘to come, coming’
(page 193).
c. to come into a particular state or condition, implying a process - ‘to become’ (page 155).
d. to happen, with the implication of the event being directed to someone or something - ‘to happen to’
(page 162).
12. The word is often in relation to eschatology or prophetic events such as the Rapture, Tribulation period, and
2nd Advent of Christ.
13. It is also used in relation to His 1st Advent.