'Force' in the Bible

But I say to you, Do not make use of force against an evil man; but to him who gives you a blow on the right side of your face let the left be turned.

Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

Make no store of wealth for yourselves on earth, where it may be turned to dust by worms and weather, and where thieves may come in by force and take it away.

So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

For all the prophets and the law were in force till John.

and said to his servants, This is John the baptist: he is risen from the dead, and because of this these works of power display their force in him.

he is not to honor his father or his mother [by helping them with their need].’ So by this you have invalidated the word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect] for the sake of your tradition [handed down by the elders].

When His own family heard this they went to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He is out of His mind.”

These [in the first group] are the ones along the road where the word is sown; but when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

For whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a yearning for truth], even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Some soldiers also questioned him: “What should we do?”He said to them, “Don’t take money from anyone by force or false accusation; be satisfied with your wages.”

But Jesus told them, "You can't force the wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them, can you?

But he who gives hearing, without doing, is like a man building a house on the earth without a base for it; and when the force of the river came against it, straight away it came down; and the destruction of that house was great.

Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

“Strive to enter through the narrow door [force aside unbelief and the attractions of sin]; for many, I tell you, will try to enter [by their own works] and will not be able.

"The law and the prophets were in force until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it.

And being in great trouble of soul, the force of his prayer became stronger, and great drops, like blood, came from him, falling to the earth.

When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

while the Apostles with great force of conviction delivered their testimony as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.

Then the commander went with the temple police and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them.

And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here;

For he with great force convinced the Jews publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

And the town was full of noise and trouble, and they all came running into the theatre, having taken by force Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia who were journeying in company with Paul.

And when he came on to the steps, he was lifted up by the armed men, because of the force of the people;

And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.

but Lysias, the chiliarch, coming up, took him away with great force out of our hands,

And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.

But after a little time, a very violent wind, named Euraquilo, came down from it with great force.

But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow stuck and couldn't be moved, while the stern was broken to pieces by the force of the waves.

For Christ did not send me [as an apostle] to baptize, but [commissioned and empowered me] to preach the good news [of salvation]—not with clever and eloquent speech [as an orator], so that the cross of Christ would not be made ineffective [deprived of its saving power].

But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not just the talk of these arrogant people, but [evaluate] their [spiritual] power [whether they live up to their own claims].

But the sense of my letter was that if a brother had the name of being one who went after the desires of the flesh, or had the desire for other people's property, or was in the way of using violent language, or being the worse for drink, or took by force what was not his, you might not keep company with such a one, or take food with him.

Or is a thief, or the worse for drink, or makes use of strong language, or takes by force what is not his, will have any part in the kingdom of God.

But all believers do not recognize these facts. Some, from force of habit in relation to the idol, even now eat idol sacrifices as such, and their consciences, being but weak, are polluted.

But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will [appear to] be a foreigner to the one who is speaking [since he knows exactly what he is saying], and the one who is speaking will [appear to] be a foreigner to me.

Let every man do after the purpose of his heart; not giving with grief, or by force: for God takes pleasure in a ready giver.

For his letters, they say, have weight and are strong; but in body he is feeble, and his way of talking has little force.

But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, "If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any force, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love.

These people who want to impress others by their external appearance are trying to force you to be circumcised, simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of the Messiah.

Take care that no one takes you away by force, through man's wisdom and deceit, going after the beliefs of men and the theories of the world, and not after Christ:

having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross.

And so [because of the oath’s greater strength and force] Jesus has become the certain guarantee of a better covenant [a more excellent and more advantageous agreement; one that will never be replaced or annulled].

For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

So even the first covenant was not put in force without [the shedding of] blood.

But you have put the poor man to shame. Are not the men of wealth rulers over you? do they not take you by force before their judges?

In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. The ancient verdict against them is still in force, and their destruction is not delayed.

In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun when it shines with full force.

And the stars of heaven were falling to the earth, like green fruit from a tree before the force of a great wind.

Then one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said, "With this kind of sudden violent force Babylon the great city will be thrown down and it will never be found again!