'Restrained' in the Bible

So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said.

So Moses issued a command, and it was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the sanctuary offering.” So the people were restrained from bringing anything more;

Then Joab blew the trumpet [to signal the end of the combat], and the men returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab held them back.

Nevertheless, Haman controlled himself and went home. There he sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh.

Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite said,“I am young, and you are aged;For that reason I was anxious and dared not tell you what I think.

“I know that You can do all things,And that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained.

I have proclaimed good news of righteousness [and the joy that comes from obedience to You] in the great assembly;Behold, I will not restrain my lips [from proclaiming Your righteousness],As You know, O Lord.

I have restrained my feet from every evil way,That I may keep Your word.

“I [the Lord] have been silent for a long time,I have been still and restrained Myself.Now I will moan like a woman in labor,I will both gasp and pant.

Look down from heaven and see from Your lofty dwelling place, holy and glorious.Where are Your zeal and Your mighty acts [Your miracles which you did for Your people]?The stirring of Your heart and Your compassion are restrained and withheld from me.

Thus says the Lord to this people [Judah], “In the manner and to the degree [already pointed out] they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember [in detail] their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”

Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am [in hiding, virtually] restrained; I cannot go into the house of the Lord.

The Lord determined to lay in ruinsThe [city] wall of the Daughter of Zion.He has stretched out a line,He has not stopped His hand from destroying.He has caused the rampart and the wall to lament (mourn in grief);They have languished together.

But now we have been released from the Law and its penalty, having died [through Christ] to that by which we were held captive, so that we serve [God] in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter [of the Law].

For the mystery of lawlessness [rebellion against divine authority and the coming reign of lawlessness] is already at work; [but it is restrained] only until he who now restrains it is taken out of the way.

Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he [stopped me and] said to me, “You must not do that; I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who have and hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God [alone]. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [His life and teaching are the heart of prophecy].”