Reference: Hard
Hastings
Besides other meanings which are still in use, 'hard' sometimes means close: Jg 9:52 'And Abimelech
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At this, Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you that a rich man will find it hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
All at once a spirit will seize him, suddenly shriek out, and throw him into convulsions till he foams, and will leave him only when he is utterly exhausted.
So he left, and went to the house of a certain Titius Justus, who had been accustomed to join in the worship of God, and whose house was next door to the Synagogue.
And with difficulty, by keeping close in shore, we reached a place called 'Fair Havens,' near which was the town of Lasea.
Share hardships with me, as a true soldier of Christ Jesus.
For it was through this that he gave us what we prize as the greatest of his promises, that through them you might participate in the divine nature, now that you have fled from the corruption in the world, resulting from human passions.