'Force' in the Bible

Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

“If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to do slave labor.

Yet Edom insisted, “You must not travel through.” And they came out to confront them with a large force of heavily-armed people.

The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.

So Joshua and the whole military force set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 fighting men and sent them out at night.

The military force was stationed in this way: the main camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

So Joshua and his whole military force, including all the fighting men, came from Gilgal.

So Joshua and his whole military force surprised them at the waters of Merom and attacked them.

The Lord your God will force them back on your account and drive them out before you so that you can take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.

If that man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you can take whatever you want for yourself,” the servant would reply, “No, I insist that you hand it over right now. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force!”

When war broke out again, David went out and fought against the Philistines. He defeated them with such a great force that they fled from him.

Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; the labor force numbered 30,000 men.

Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.

Under their authority was an army of 307,500 equipped for combat, a powerful force to help the king against the enemy.

So the Lord his God handed Ahaz over to the king of Aram. He attacked him and took many captives to Damascus.Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with great force:

but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I’ll use force against you.” After that they did not come again on the Sabbath.

He swallows wealth but must vomit it up;God will force it from his stomach.

My clothing is distorted with great force;He chokes me by the neck of my garment.

Remove Your torment from me;I fade away because of the force of Your hand.

He will resolve to come with the force of his whole kingdom and will reach an agreement with him. He will give him a daughter in marriage to destroy it, but she will not stand with him or support him.

You force the women of My peopleout of their comfortable homes,and you take My blessingfrom their children forever.

Why do You force me to look at injustice?Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?Oppression and violence are right in front of me.Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violent have been seizing it by force.

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.”

Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

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

For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in force while the one who made it is living.