'Force' in the Bible
Jacob answered Laban, “[I left secretly] because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.
For in fact I was taken (stolen) from the land of the Hebrews by [unlawful] force, and even here I have done nothing for which they should put me in the dungeon.”
Although Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eyesight was not dim, nor his natural strength abated.
If the man said to him, “Certainly they are to burn (offer) the fat first, and then you may take as much as you want,” then the priest’s servant would say, “No! You shall give it to me now or I will take it by force.”
She replied, “No, my brother! Do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful thing!
Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they went up hurriedly to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them stop [work] by force of arms.
In it the king granted the Jews who were in every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives; to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force that might attack them, their little children, and women; and to take the enemies’ goods as plunder,
“Yet these are just the fringes of His ways [mere samples of His power],The faintest whisper of His voice!Who can contemplate the thunder of His [full] mighty power?”
“By the great force [of my disease] my garment (skin) is disfigured and blemished;It binds about me [choking me] like the collar of my coat.
“But there is [a vital force and] a spirit [of intelligence] in man,And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.
“Will your wealth [be sufficient to] keep you from [the confinement of] distress,Or will all the force of your strength do it?
Shin.Princes persecute me without cause,But my heart stands in [reverent] awe of Your words [so I can expect You to help me].
Listen carefully, the Lord, the God of hosts, will lop off the [beautiful] boughs with terrifying force;The tall in stature will be cut downAnd the lofty will be abased and humiliated.
My tent is destroyed,And all my [tent] cords are broken;My children have been taken from me [as captives] and are no more.There is no one to stretch out my tent againAnd to set up my [tent] curtains.
You have not strengthened those who are weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bandaged the crippled, you have not brought back those gone astray, you have not looked for the lost; but you have ruled them with force and violence.