Study
Word study

Word study

Greek

To force

ἀγγαρεύωStrong’s G0029

angareuō

Appears in 3 verses of the New Testament

In short

Angareuō is the Greek word usually translated “compel to go”, “compelled” and “compel”. It appears in 3 verses of the New Testament.

“And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.”
Matthew 5:41 KJV
Meaning

Usually translated “compel to go”, “compelled” and “compel”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.

How it's translated
  • will compel to go 1
  • they compelled 1
  • they compel 1

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Matthew 2
  • Mark 1

2 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
Greek dictionary

ἀγγαρεύω angareuō · to force

ἀγγαρεύω (from the Persian; cf. Vg. angiare, and the Heb. אִגֶרֶת; on the orthogr., see Bl., §6, 1; M, Pr., 46), to impress into public service, employ a courier; hence, to compel to perform a service (prob. common in the vernac.; cf. Deiss., BS, 86f., MM, Exp., iv; VGT, see word): Mat.5:41, 27:32, Mrk.15:21.† (AS)

From STEPBible’s Greek lexicon (based on Abbott-Smith).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “force” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

FORCE, noun

[Latin fortis. All words denoting force power, strength, are from verbs which express straining, or driving, rushing, and this word has the elements of Latin vireo.]

  1. Strength; active power; vigor; might; energy that may be exerted; that physical property in a body which may produce action or motion in another body, or may counteract such motion.
  2. Momentum; the quantity of power produced by motion or the action of one body on another; as the force of a cannon ball.
  3. That which causes an operation or moral effect; strength; energy; as the force of the mind, will or understanding.
  4. Violence; power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power.
All definitions and other forms of “force”
  1. Strength; moral power to convince the mind.
  2. Virtue; efficacy.
  3. Validity; power to bind or hold. Hebrews 9:17
  4. Strength or power for war; armament; troops; an army or navy; as a military or naval force:sometimes in the plural; as military forces.
  5. Destiny; necessity; compulsion; any extraneous power to which men are subject; as the force of fate or of divine decrees.
  6. Internal power; as the force of habit.
  7. In law, any unlawful violence to person or property.

FORCE, verb transitive

  1. To compel; to constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible.
  2. To overpower by strength.
  3. To impel; to press; to drive; to draw or push by main strength; a sense of very extensive use; as, to force along a wagon or a ship; to force away a man's arms; water forces its way through a narrow channel; a man may be forced out of his possessions.
  4. To enforce; to urge; to press.
  5. To compel by strength of evidence; as, to force conviction on the mind; to force one to acknowledge the truth of a proposition.
  6. To storm; to assault and take by violence; as, to force a town or fort.
  7. To ravish; to violate by force as a female.
  8. To overstrain; to distort; as a forced conceit.
  9. To cause to produce ripe fruit prematurely, as a tree; or to cause to ripen prematurely, as fruit.
  10. To man; to strengthen by soldiers; to garrison. obsolete

FORCE, verb intransitive

  1. To lay stress on. obsolete
  2. To strive. obsolete
  3. To use violence.

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Greek, not from any one translation.