Word study
Force
8 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: forced, forces, force, forcing. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “force” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מַס masbody of forced labourers, task-workers, labour-band or gangtranslated this way 18 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H4522Noun · Translated: forced labor 11, forced laborers 4, forced 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Deuteronomy 20:11 If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.
Joshua 16:10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.
- חַיִל chayilstrength, efficiency, wealth, armytranslated this way 7 times of its 233 uses · Strong’s H2428Noun · Translated: army 73, valor 49, wealth 26, strength 9Full study and all 219 verses →
2 Chronicles 26:13 Under their authority was an army of 307,500 trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies.
Esther 8:11 By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.
- מַחֲנֶה machănehencampment, camptranslated this way 3 times of its 206 uses · Strong’s H4264Noun · Translated: camp 146, army 21, camps 12, armies 3Full study and all 186 verses →
1 Samuel 17:1 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.
1 Samuel 28:1 Now in those days the Philistines gathered their forces for warfare against Israel. So Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men are to go out to battle with me.”
- זְרוֹעַ zerôaarm, shoulder, strengthtranslated this way 3 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s H2220Noun · Translated: arm 49, arms 18, strength 7, power 3Full study and all 84 verses →
Daniel 11:15 Then the king of the North will come, build up a siege ramp, and capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will not stand; even their best troops will not be able to resist.
Daniel 11:22 Then a flood of forces will be swept away before him and destroyed, along with a prince of the covenant.
- אָסַף âsaphgather, removetranslated this way 2 times of its 193 uses · Strong’s H622Verb · Translated: gathered 56, gather 27, assembled 13, assemble 8Full study and all 183 verses →
Joshua 10:5 So the five kings of the Amorites— the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon— joined forces and advanced with all their armies. They camped before Gibeon and made war against it.
Judges 3:13 After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.
- צָבָא tsâbâarmy, war, warfaretranslated this way 2 times of its 468 uses · Strong’s H6635Noun · Translated: Hosts 286, army 66, host 23, divisions 21Full study and all 448 verses →
Judges 4:2 So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
Isaiah 40:2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”
- עָבַד âbadwork, servetranslated this way 2 times of its 286 uses · Strong’s H5647Verb · Translated: serve 110, served 44, worship 32, work 9Full study and all 259 verses →
Leviticus 25:39 If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
- כָּבַשׁ kâbashsubdue, bring into bondagetranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H3533Verb · Translated: subdued 5, forced 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Jeremiah 34:11 but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.
Jeremiah 34:16 But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀγγαρεύω angareúōI impress, sendtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G29Verb · Translated: forced 2, forces you to go 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 5:41 and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Mark 15:21 Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.
- στοιχεῖον stoicheîona heavenly body, an elementtranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4747Noun · Translated: principles 2, spiritual forces 2, elements 2, basic principles 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.
Colossians 2:20 If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
- ἁρπάζω harpázōI seize, snatch, obtain by robberytranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G726Verb · Translated: caught 4, snatch 2Full study and all 14 verses →
John 6:15 Then Jesus, realizing that they were about to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself.
Acts 23:10 The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.