'Strength' in the Bible

To You, O [God] my strength, I will sing praises;For God is my stronghold [my refuge, my protector, my high tower], the God who shows me [steadfast] lovingkindness.

On God my salvation and my glory rest;He is my rock of [unyielding] strength, my refuge is in God.

Your God has commanded your strength [your power in His service and your resistance to temptation];Show Yourself strong, O God, who acted on our behalf.

Ascribe strength to God;His majesty is over IsraelAnd His strength is in the skies.

O God, You are awesome and profoundly majestic from Your sanctuary;The God of Israel gives strength and power to His people.Blessed be God!

Do not cast me off nor send me away in the time of old age;Do not abandon me when my strength fails and I am weak.

I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord God [and in His strength];I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.

And even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not abandon me,Until I declare Your [mighty] strength to this generation,Your power to all who are to come.

For there are no pains in their death,Their body is fat and pampered.

My flesh and my heart may fail,But God is the rock and strength of my heart and my portion forever.

He killed all the firstborn in Egypt,The first and best of their strength in the tents [of the land of the sons] of Ham.

And gave up His strength and power (the ark of the covenant) into captivity,And His glory into the hand of the enemy (the Philistines).

Sing aloud to God our strength;Shout for joy to the God of Jacob (Israel).

Blessed and greatly favored is the man whose strength is in You,In whose heart are the highways to Zion.

They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power];Each of them appears before God in Zion.

Turn to me, and be gracious to me;Grant Your strength [Your might and the power to resist temptation] to Your servant,And save the son of Your handmaid.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit (grave);I am like a man who has no strength [a mere shadow],

For You are the glory of their strength [their proud adornment],And by Your favor our horn is exalted.

The days of our life are seventy years—Or even, if because of strength, eighty years;Yet their pride [in additional years] is only labor and sorrow,For it is soon gone and we fly away.

But my horn [my emblem of strength and power] You have exalted like that of a wild ox;I am anointed with fresh oil [for Your service].

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty and splendor;The Lord has clothed and encircled Himself with strength;the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.

In whose hand are the depths of the earth;The peaks of the mountains are His also.

Splendor and majesty are before Him;Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

The strength of the King loves justice and righteous judgment;You have established fairness;You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob (Israel).

He has exhausted my strength [humbling me with sorrow] in the way;He has shortened my days.

Seek and deeply long for the Lord and His strength [His power, His might];Seek and deeply long for His face and His presence continually.

He also struck down all the firstborn in their land,The first fruits and chief substance of all their strength.

The Lord will send the scepter of Your strength from Zion, saying,“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

The Lord is my strength and song,And He has become my salvation.

The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous:The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

The right hand of the Lord is exalted;The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,You and the ark [the symbol] of Your strength.

On the day I called, You answered me;And You made me bold and confident with [renewed] strength in my life.

“O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation,You have covered my head in the day of battle.

Blessed be the Lord, my Rock and my great strength,Who trains my hands for warAnd my fingers for battle;

He does not delight in the strength (military power) of the horse,Nor does He take pleasure in the legs (strength) of a man.

But the path of the just (righteous) is like the light of dawn,That shines brighter and brighter until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day.

And strangers will be filled with your strengthAnd your hard-earned wealth will go to the house of a foreigner [who does not know God];

The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright,But it is ruin to those who do evil.

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,But much revenue [because of good crops] comes by the strength of the ox.

The glory of young men is their [physical] strength,And the honor of aged men is their gray head [representing wisdom and experience].

If you are slack (careless) in the day of distress,Your strength is limited.

Do not give your [generative] strength to women [neither foreign wives in marriages of alliances, nor concubines],Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

She considers a field before she buys or accepts it [expanding her business prudently];With her profits she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard.

She equips herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task]And makes her arms strong.

Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure;And she smiles at the future [knowing that she and her family are prepared].

“Many daughters have done nobly, and well [with the strength of character that is steadfast in goodness],But you excel them all.”

Wisdom strengthens the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength; but wisdom [to sharpen the axe] helps him succeed [with less effort].

Blessed [prosperous and admired] are you, O land, when your king is a man of noble birth, and your princes and officials feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness.

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are heroes at drinking wineAnd men of strength in mixing intoxicating drinks,

“Behold, God, my salvation!I will trust and not be afraid,For the Lord God is my strength and song;Yes, He has become my salvation.”

Because you [Judah] have forgotten the God of your salvationAnd have not remembered the Rock of your Stronghold—Therefore you plant lovely plantsAnd set the grounds with vine slips of a strange god,

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,For your stronghold [of Tyre] is destroyed.

“Or let him (Israel) cling to My strength and rely on My protection [My stronghold],Let him make peace with Me,Let him make peace with Me.”

A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment [administering the law],A strength to those who drive back the battle at the gate.

Who proceed down to EgyptWithout consulting Me,To take refuge in the stronghold of PharaohAnd to take shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

“Therefore the safety and protection of Pharaoh will be your shameAnd the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation and disgrace.

For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said this,“In returning [to Me] and rest you shall be saved,In quietness and confident trust is your strength.”But you were not willing,

O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited [expectantly] for You.Be the arm of Your servants every morning [that is, their strength and their defense],Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now in whom do you trust and on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me?

They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and disgrace; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

O Zion, herald of good news,Get up on a high mountain.O Jerusalem, herald of good news,Lift up your voice with strength,Lift it up, do not fear;Say to the cities of Judah,“Here is your God!”

He gives strength to the weary,And to him who has no might He increases power.

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.

“Listen to Me in silence, you islands and coastlands,And let the nations gain their strength;Let them come near, then let them speak;Let us come together for judgment [and decide the issue between us concerning the enemy from the east].

Therefore He poured out on Israel the heat of His angerAnd the fierceness of battle;And engulfed him in fire,Yet he did not recognize [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach];It burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

The ironsmith shapes iron and uses a chisel and works it over the coals. He forms the [idol’s] core with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He also becomes hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and grows tired.

“It shall be said of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’To Him people will come,And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.

Then I said, “I have labored in vain,I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity (pride, uselessness);However My justice is with the Lord,And My reward is with My God.”

And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,To bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him,—For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,And My God is My strength—

Awake, awake, put on strength and might, O arm of the Lord;Awake as in the ancient days, as in the generations of long ago.Was it not You who cut Rahab (Egypt) in pieces,Who pierced the dragon [of Egypt]?

Awake, awake,Put on your strength, O Zion;Put on your beautiful garments,O Jerusalem, the holy city;For the uncircumcised and the uncleanWill no longer come into you.

“You were wearied by the length of your road,Yet you did not say, ‘It is no use.’You found renewed strength,Therefore you did not grow weak.

Now behold, I have made you today like a fortified city and like an iron pillar and like bronze walls against the whole land—against the [successive] kings of Judah, against its leaders, against its priests, and against the people of the land [giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome].

Thus says the Lord, “Let not the one who is wise and skillful boast in his insight; let not the one who is mighty and powerful boast in his strength; let not the one who is rich boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] abundance;

[Then said Jeremiah] “O Lord, my Strength and my Stronghold,And my Refuge in the day of distress and need,The nations will come to YouFrom the ends of the earth and say,‘Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies and illusion,[Worthless] things in which there is no benefit!’

The horn (strength) of Moab has been cut off and his arm [of authority] is shattered,” says the Lord.

“In the shadow of HeshbonThe fugitives stand powerless [helpless and without strength],For a fire has gone out from Heshbon,A flame from the midst of Sihon;It has destroyed the forehead of MoabAnd the crowns of the heads of [the arrogant Moabites] the ones in tumult.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts,‘Behold (listen carefully), I am going to break the bow of Elam,The finest [weapon] of their strength.

Kill all her young bulls [her strength—her young men];Let them go down to the slaughter!Woe (judgment is coming) to the Chaldeans, for their day has come,The time of their punishment.

All her beauty and majestyHave departed from the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem).Her princes have become like deerThat have found no pasture;They have fled without strengthBefore the pursuer.

All her people groan, seeking bread;They have exchanged their desirable and precious things for foodTo restore their lives.“See, O Lord, and considerHow despised and repulsive I have become!”

“The yoke of my transgressions is bound;By His hand they are knit and woven together.They have come upon my neck.He has made my strength fail;The Lord has put me into the handOf those against whom I cannot stand.

So I say, “My strength has perishedAnd so has my hope and expectation from the Lord.”

‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and the delight of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind [in Jerusalem] will fall by the sword.

‘As for you, son of man, on the day when I take their strength and their stronghold from them, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes and their heart’s [chief] delight (the temple), and I also take their sons and their daughters,

Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God,“Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,The great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers,[Boastfully] declaring, ‘My Nile is my own, and I have made it for myself.’

“Which among the trees of Eden do you equal in glory and in greatness [O Egypt]? Yet you [also] will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath (nether world). You will lie among the uncircumcised (the barbaric, the boorish, the crude) with those who were slain by the sword. This is how it shall be with Pharaoh and all his hordes!”’ says the Lord God.”

I will make your horde [of people] fall by the swords of the mighty—all of them are tyrants among the nations,And they will devastate the pride and presumption of Egypt,And all its hordes will be destroyed.

And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but there will be in it some of the durability and strength of iron, just as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.

So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my normal appearance turned to a deathly pale, and I grew weak and faint [with fright].

And behold, one who resembled the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “O my lord, because of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.

For how can such a [weakened] servant of my lord talk with such [a being] as my lord? For now there remains no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.”

Then the king of the North (Syria) will come and build up siege ramps and capture a well-fortified city. The forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even the finest troops, for there will be no strength to stand [against the Syrian king].

He will be determined to come with the power of his entire kingdom, and propose equitable conditions and terms of peace, which he will put into effect [by making an agreement with the king of the South]. He will also give him his daughter (Cleopatra I), in an attempt to overthrow the kingdom, but it will not succeed or be to his advantage.

Strangers have devoured his strength,Yet he does not know it;Gray hairs are sprinkled on him,Yet he does not know.

In their mother’s womb he took his brother by the heel,And in his maturity he contended with God.

Do not be afraid, you animals of the field,For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green;The tree has produced its fruit,And the fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.