'Run' in the Bible

“Joseph is a fruitful bough (a main branch of the vine),A fruitful bough by a spring (a well, a fountain);Its branches run over the wall [influencing others].

He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them for himself to his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots.

If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission from me to go to Bethlehem, his city, because it is the yearly sacrifice there for the entire family.’

And he said to his boy, “Run, please find the arrows which I am about to shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow past him.

After this, Absalom provided for himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men as runners before him.

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, said, “Let me run and bring the king news that the Lord has vindicated him by rescuing him from [the power of] his enemies.”

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “But whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why should you run, my son, seeing you will have no messenger’s reward for going [because you have only bad news]?”

“But whatever happens, Let me run.” So Joab said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain [of the Jordan River] and outran the Cushite.

“For by You I can run upon a troop;By my God I can leap over a wall.

Then Adonijah the son of [David’s wife] Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I [the eldest living son] will be king.” So [following Absalom’s example] he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

Please run now to meet her and ask her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’” And she answered, “It is well.”

when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “My master has spared this Naaman the Aramean (Syrian), by not accepting from him what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth so that He may support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this; therefore, from now on you will have wars.”

When the dust hardens into a massAnd the clods stick together [because of the heat]?

For by You I can crush a troop,And by my God I can leap over a wall.

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

They run and set themselves against me though there is no guilt in me;Stir Yourself to meet and help me, and see [what they are doing]!

He brought streams also from the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh]And caused waters to run down like rivers.

You send springs into the valleys;Their waters flow among the mountains.

I will run the way of Your commandments [with purpose],For You will give me a heart that is willing.

My eyes weep streams of waterBecause people do not keep Your law.

For their feet run to evil,And they hurry to shed blood.

When you walk, your steps will not be impeded [for your path will be clear and open];And when you run, you will not stumble.

All the rivers flow into the sea,Yet the sea is not full.To the place where the rivers flow,There they flow again.

“Draw me away with you and let us run together!Let the king bring me into his chambers.”

(The Bridegroom)“If you do not know [where your lover is],O you fairest among women,Run along, follow the tracks of the flock,And pasture your young goatsBy the tents of the shepherds.

Woe (judgment is coming) to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David [once] camped!Add yet another year; let the feasts run their course [but only one year more].

Your spoil [of Israel’s foe] is gathered [by the people of Jerusalem] as the caterpillar gathers;As locusts swarming so people swarm on it.

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him]Will gain new strength and renew their power;They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun];They will run and not become weary,They will walk and not grow tired.

“In fact, you [Israel] will call a nation that you do not know,And a nation that does not know you will run to you,Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel;For He has glorified you.”

Their feet run to evil,And they rush to shed innocent blood.Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing];Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

“Roam back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem,And look now and take note.And look in her open squaresTo see if you can find a man [as Abraham sought in Sodom],One who is just, who [has integrity and moral courage and] seeks truth (faithfulness);Then I will pardon Jerusalem—[for the sake of one uncompromisingly righteous person].

“Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us,That our eyes may shed tearsAnd our eyelids flow with water.

But if you will not listen and obey,My soul will weep in secret for your pride;My eyes will weep bitterlyAnd flow with tears,Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

“Therefore [Jeremiah] you will say this word to them,‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,And let them never cease;For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a great blow,With a very serious and severely infected wound.

“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai [in Ammon] has been destroyed!Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!Wrap yourselves with sackcloth and lament (cry out in grief),And rush back and forth inside the enclosures;For Malcam [your powerless god] will go into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.

One courier runs to meet another,And one messenger to meet another,To tell the king of BabylonThat his city has been captured from end to end;

Their hearts cried out to the Lord.“O wall of the Daughter of Zion,Let your tears run down like a river day and night;Give yourself no relief,Let your eyes have no rest.

“Then I will make their waters quiet and clear;I will make their rivers run [slowly and smoothly] like oil,”Says the Lord God.

“The south side, southward, from Tamar [near the Dead Sea] shall extend as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the Brook of Egypt and to the Great [Mediterranean] Sea. This is the south side toward the south.

But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the scroll until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and search anxiously [through the scroll], and knowledge [of the purpose of God as revealed by His prophets] will [greatly] increase.”

Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,And they run like war horses.

They run like warriors;They climb the wall like soldiers.They each march [straight ahead] in line,And they do not deviate from their paths.

They rush over the city,They run on the wall;They climb up into the houses,They enter at the windows like a thief.

“But let justice run down like watersAnd righteousness like an ever-flowing stream [flowing abundantly].

Do horses run on rocks?Do men plow rocks with oxen? [Of course not!]Yet you have turned justice into poisonAnd the fruit of righteousness into wormwood (bitterness),

“People shall stagger from sea to sea [to the very ends of the earth]And from the north even to the east;They will roam here and there to seek the word of the Lord [longing for it as essential for life],But they will not find it.

The chariots race madly in the streets;They rush wildly in the broad plazas.Their appearance is like torches;They rush in various directions like forked lightning.

You look for much [harvest], but it comes to little; and even when you bring that home, I blow it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house, which lies in ruins while each of you runs to his own house [eager to enjoy it].

and he said to the second angel, “Run, speak to that young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited [like villages] without walls [spreading out into the open country] because of the great number of people and livestock in it.

Who [with reason] despises the day of small things (beginnings)? For these seven [eyes] shall rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord which roam throughout the earth.”

After they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him [becoming His disciples, believing and trusting in Him and following His example].

They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

When we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we ran a straight course and came to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara;

When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, and they decided to run the ship ashore there if they could.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run [their very best to win], but only one receives the prize? Run [your race] in such a way that you may seize the prize and make it yours!

Therefore I do not run without a definite goal; I do not flail around like one beating the air [just shadow boxing].

I went up [to Jerusalem] because of a [divine] revelation, and I put before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so in private before those of reputation, for fear that I might be running or had run [the course of my ministry] in vain.

holding out and offering to everyone the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to rejoice greatly because I did not run [my race] in vain nor labor without result.

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray continually for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be honored [triumphantly celebrated and glorified], just as it was with you;

Because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted, He is able to help and provide immediate assistance to those who are being tempted and exposed to suffering.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us,

In [connection with] all this, they [the unbelievers] are resentful and surprised that you do not [think like them, value their values and] run [hand in hand] with them into the same excesses of dissipation and immoral freedom, and they criticize and abuse and ridicule you and make fun of your values.

Woe to them! For they have gone the [defiant] way of Cain, and for profit they have run headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of [mutinous] Korah.