to come upon: to arrive at, move onto, or bear down on a person or place
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
The core picture is motion that reaches its target and settles onto it. This is the plain verb "to come" (ἔρχομαι) sharpened by a prefix meaning "upon" or "onto," so it always points at something the coming lands on.
That single image fans out across the ways the New Testament uses it. Someone can simply arrive at a place, or an attacker can come down on a victim to overpower him. Trouble can come upon people the way a storm overtakes them, and time itself can be spoken of as "coming on," the ages still ahead. Most memorably, the Holy Spirit is said to come upon Mary and upon the disciples.
What holds the range together is the direction: not merely arriving nearby, but arriving on top of the person or place in view. The tone, whether welcome or dreadful, comes from the context, not the word. The same verb carries the Spirit's descent and a besieging enemy.
Nuances
1ato arrive, come to a place
TranslatabilityDirect
Act 14:19
1bto come upon in attack: to close in on and overpower
Luk 11:22
1c(of the Holy Spirit) to come upon
Luk 1:35Act 1:8
1d(of events, especially trouble) to come upon, to overtake
Describes something powerful coming down upon a person, so the movement lands on someone rather than merely heading somewhere. The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and upon the disciples, and a stronger man comes upon and overpowers the one he attacks.Luk 1:35Act 1:8Luk 11:22
Names trouble that befalls people, disaster and judgment settling on the guilty. James warns of miseries coming upon the rich, and both Peter and Paul use it for the punishment that would fall on those who reject the message.Jas 5:1Act 8:24Act 13:40
Both
Both name future ages and events that are on their way toward the world, so each can speak of what is still to come. Paul writes of the coming ages and Luke of what is coming on the world, while the general verb likewise marks the age that is to come.Eph 2:7Luk 21:26Mrk 10:30
The ordinary verb for a person traveling from one place to another and arriving, the everyday word for going, visiting, and drawing near. The magi come to worship, and Jesus offers to come and heal the centurion's servant.Mat 2:2Mat 8:7
Titles Jesus as the awaited one, "the Coming One," and voices the longing for his return. John's disciples ask whether he is the one who is to come, and Revelation closes with his promise to come and the church's answering cry.Mat 11:3Rev 22:20
ἐφίστημι"to come up and stand over," often appearing suddenly; it stresses being present over someone, where this word stresses the motion onto them.
names an unseen power descending and coming to rest on a person, above all the Holy Spirit empowering someoneLuk 1:35Act 1:8
pictures troubles or blessings as things that travel out of the future and finally overtake people, whether coming miseries or the riches of grace in the ages still aheadJas 5:1Eph 2:7Act 8:24
Both
both describe a sudden, unexpected event coming upon people all at once, above all the day of judgmentLuk 21:261Th 5:3
both can describe a hostile group setting upon someone in a rush of aggressionLuk 11:22Act 17:5
describes a person suddenly appearing and standing right beside or over someone, so the arrival is felt as bodily presence at one's sideLuk 2:9Luk 4:39Act 12:7
shifts from motion to a settled state of being present: a time that has arrived and is now at hand, or a person standing ready and persistent2Ti 4:62Ti 4:2
Looks ahead in time: it is the ordinary word for what is still to come, so it can describe coming ages, coming disasters, and a warning about what may yet overtake a hearer.Eph 2:7Luk 21:26Jas 5:1Act 13:40
Describes people simply arriving on the scene, travelling in from somewhere else, with no idea of anything landing on anyone.Act 14:19
Can mean advancing on someone as an attacker: a stronger opponent moves in, overpowers the first man, and strips him of his weapons.Luk 11:22
Both
Both are used for the Holy Spirit coming on people, and the New Testament moves freely between them for the same event.Luk 1:35Act 1:8Act 10:44Act 11:15Act 8:16
Both describe an experience arriving on a person from outside, something they neither invited nor can fend off, whether dread or disaster.Jas 5:1Act 8:24Luk 1:12Act 19:17Rev 11:11
Both are built on the same little word for "upon", so English Bibles often render either one as "come upon" and the difference between them disappears in translation.Luk 1:35Act 19:17
It is the plain word for what has already taken place, the one people reach for when they talk over recent events.Luk 24:14Act 3:10
It fits an outcome that lines up with a saying or a pattern, reporting that things turned out exactly as the words had it.2Pe 2:221Co 10:11
It can stand on its own as "it turned out that", reporting what took place without naming anyone or anything as the mover behind it.Act 21:35
eperchomai in the other biblical languages
בּוֹאHebrew“to come (in): come”the ordinary Hebrew verb "to come," used of blessing or disaster "coming" on a person, but without the built-in sense of landing upon or against.
Names power or the Spirit coming down upon a person, settling on them from outside. This directional "upon" is built into the word, a sense the plain Hebrew verb for coming does not carry.Luk 1:35Act 1:8
Describes disaster, fear, or judgment overtaking people, coming down on them like a threat that lands.Luk 21:26Act 8:24Act 13:40Jas 5:1
Marks an adversary coming upon someone to overpower him, an aggressive advance against a person.Luk 11:22
Both
Both describe someone arriving at a place, reaching a destination in the plain sense of "come".Gen 19:1Act 14:19
The everyday verb for going into a place, the ordinary word for entering a house, a land, or a shelter.Gen 7:7Gen 12:5Gen 19:3
Carries a causative "bring" sense, leading or carrying someone or something in, which the Greek word never means.Gen 2:19Gen 4:3Gen 4:4
Used of the sun "coming in", the standard Hebrew idiom for sunset.Gen 15:12Gen 15:17
צָלֵחַHebrew“to prosper”"to rush mightily upon," used of the Spirit of the LORD coming powerfully on Samson, Saul, and David, a close Old Testament parallel to the Spirit coming upon in Luke and Acts.
It names something menacing bearing down on people: a disaster, a judgment, or a fate that is about to arrive on them.Act 13:40Jas 5:1Act 8:24
It covers time and events drawing near, the age or era still to come.Eph 2:7Luk 21:26
It can picture an attacker falling on someone and overpowering him.Luk 11:22
Both
Both are used of the Spirit of God coming upon a person and seizing them for a task: the Hebrew word for the Spirit rushing on the judges and kings, the Greek word for the Holy Spirit coming on Mary and the disciples.Jdg 14:61Sa 16:13Luk 1:35Act 1:8
Its everyday meaning is to succeed and thrive, most often with God as the one who makes a person or a journey prosper.Gen 24:21Gen 39:2Psa 1:3Jos 1:8
It describes God's word or purpose reaching its goal and accomplishing what he sent it to do.Isa 53:10Isa 55:11
In its other, forceful sense it means to rush or drive straight through an obstacle.2Sa 19:17
What scholars say about eperchomai
Standard lexica treat ἐπέρχομαι as a single verb, the prepositional compound ἐπί + ἔρχομαι, with a well-mapped range: (1) of persons, to arrive or come to (Acts 14:19), including coming against an adversary (Luke 11:22); (2) of the Holy Spirit, to come upon (Luke 1:35;Acts 1:8); (3) of time, to be oncoming or future (Eph 2:7, τοῖς αἰῶσιν τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις); and (4) of events, especially misfortune, to come upon or overtake (Luke 21:26;Acts 8:24; 13:40; Jas 5:1). BDAG and Louw-Nida organize the senses by referent (person, time, event) rather than by distinct roots; LSJ documents the same spread, including the hostile "come against," in classical and Hellenistic prose. In the Septuagint the verb frequently renders forms of בּוֹא in the sense of calamity or the day of the LORD coming upon a people, which shapes its New Testament use for oncoming judgment. Discussion of the Lukan Spirit-language (Luke 1:35;Acts 1:8) belongs to theology rather than lexicography; the sense of the verb itself is not in dispute.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἐπέρχομαιlexicon
LSJ, s.v. ἐπέρχομαιlexicon
Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, s.v. ἐπέρχομαιlexicon
J. Schneider, "ἔρχομαι, ἐπέρχομαι," TDNT 2:666-684dictionary