"Strong" as defined in "Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words"

STRONG, (BE) STRONG Old Testament Verb: חָזַק (ḥāzaq), GK 2616 (S 2388), 290×. (1) ḥāzaq can describe the severity of an impersonal force. For instance, we read that the famine is strong on all the land (Gen. 41:57; cf. 47:20). Absalom’s head is strong in the oak, and we read that his head “caught hold” (KJV) or “got caught” (NIV) (2 Sam. 18:9). The term can also describe the impersonal might of a nation or individual that results in that nation or individual prevailing over others. In Jos. 17:13 we read that the Israelites grow strong (see also Jdg. 1:28; 2 Sam. 16:21, etc.). The word can describe compelling force used to overpower others (cf. the awful incident in Deut. 22:25). The word of the king is strong, and we read that it “prevails against” (KJV) or “overrules” Joab (2 Sam. 24:4). (2) At some points ḥāzaq is interpreted to mean being courageous. So the KJV translates the word in Jos. 23:6, “Be ye therefore very courageous” (cf. the NIV, “Be very strong”; cf. also 1 Chr. 19:13; 2 Chr. 19:11; Ezr. 10:4; Ps. 27:14; Isa. 41:6). These overtones of courage are also present in the command, “Only be strong lest you eat the blood” in Deut. 12:23, which is commonly translated along the lines of “be sure” (KJV, NIV). Similar to this is the command to Moses that he “strengthen [i.e., encourage] Joshua” (Deut. 3:28; cf. Jdg. 16:28; 2 Sam. 11:25). (3) In several instances ḥāzaq I refers to God’s “making strong” (i.e., hardening) the heart of Pharaoh (Exod. 4:21; 7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:12, 35; 10:20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17). In some of these texts Pharaoh’s heart is the subject—“The heart of Pharaoh was strengthened”—but several of these are followed by the statement “as God had said,” indicating that God is bringing his promise (4:21) to pass. We have neither the authority nor the ability to remove the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility from the pages of the Bible. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, yet he holds Pharaoh responsible for choosing to reject what Moses has said. (4) When the priests have not repaired the temple, the text says that they have not made strong its breaches (2 Ki. 12:8, 12; 22:5–6). Nehemiah and the people make strong or repair the walls of the city of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:4, 7, 9, 10). (5) In some cases ḥāzaq means “to seize, grasp.” Moses grasps the snake (Exod. 4:4). Saul seizes the edge of Samuel’s robe (1 Sam. 15:27). Adjective: חָזָק (ḥāzāq), GK 2617 (S 2389), 57×. The basic sense of the adjective ḥāzāq is “mighty, strong, powerful.” (1) ḥāzāq is used to describe human beings. Moses sent spies to Canaan to determine if the inhabitants were strong (Num. 13:18, 31). God’s judgment on Israel is so overwhelming that neither the swift, nor the strong, nor the warrior can rely on his own resources to escape it (Amos 2:14). (2) ḥāzāq is also associated with God. About half of its occurrences are found in the expression “a mighty hand,” and most of these refer to God’s mighty hand displayed in delivering Israel from Egypt during the Exodus. Before the Exodus, God proclaimed to Moses that he would bring Israel out “with a mighty hand” (Exod. 3:19; 6:1); after the Exodus, Israel is regularly exhorted to obey God’s commands because he delivered them “with a mighty hand” (Exod. 13:9; Deut. 5:15; 6:21). As well, God uses a “mighty arm” to discipline Israel for her apostasy (Jer. 21:5) and a “mighty hand” to rule over them, pour out wrath (Ezek. 20:33), and gather them together from the nations for judgment (20:34). (3) Sometimes, when describing inanimate things, ḥāzāq can be translated in a way that highlights the intensity of that thing. For example, Exod. 19:16 speaks of a very loud trumpet blast; 2 Sam. 11:15 of the fiercest battle (“the hottest battle” in KJV); 1 Ki. 18:2 of a severe famine. In Job 37:18 the metal mirror is strong in the sense of being hard. In Ezekiel, the expressions “ḥāzāq of heart” (2:4) and “ḥāzāq of forehead” (3:7, 8, 9) conjure up images of a heart and forehead as hard as stone. Such phrases are metaphors for people who are obstinate and stubborn. See NIDOTTE, 2:63–87. New Testament Verb: ἰσχύω (ischyō), GK 2710 (S 2480), 28×. In the NT, ischyō primarily means “to be strong, powerful, mighty.” (1) It is used in this basic sense to describe prayer (Jas. 5:16, “is powerful” in NIV, “availeth much” in KJV) and people (Lk. 16:3, “I am not strong enough to dig”). (2) The basic meaning, however, is stretched so that ischyō also takes on various metaphorical senses. For example, someone who is powerful in relation to another is said “to prevail over/against them” (Acts 19:16, the demon-possessed man “overpowered” or “prevailed against” the seven sons of Sceva; Rev. 12:8, the dragon did not prevail against Michael the angel). It can also mean simply “to be able,” as when Matthew says that “no one could pass that way” (Mt. 8:28), when Jesus asked the disciples, “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?” (Mt. 26:40), and when Jesus warns that we must strive to enter the narrow gate because many will try and not be able to (Lk. 13:24). In some passages ischyō has the sense of being in possession of one’s powers, meaning “to be healthy” (Mt. 9:12, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor”). In 5:13 it means “to be useful for something” (salt that loses its saltiness “is no longer good for anything”). Finally, ischyō can also be used in the sense of “to have meaning, value, or validity,” as in Gal 5:6 (“neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value”) and Heb. 9:17 (a will “never takes effect while the one who made it is living”). See NIDNTT-A, 276. Adjective: δυνατός (dynatos), GK 1543 (S 1415), 32×. dynatos denotes what is possible or what one has the power to do. See possible. Adjective: ἰσχυρός (ischyros), GK 2708 (S 2478), 28×. ischyros means “strong, mighty, powerful.” It refers to superhuman beings like God (Rev. 18:8) and angels (Rev. 5:2; 18:2), but it can also refer to human beings (1 Cor. 4:10; Heb. 11:34) and to things like the “boisterous” wind (Mt. 14:30, KJV), a “severe” famine (Lk. 15:14, NIV), or Paul’s “forceful” letters (2 Cor. 10:10). In 1 Corinthians Paul remarks that even God’s weakness is “more powerful” than human strength; consequently, God is able to choose the weak of the world to shame the “strong” (1 Cor. 1:25, 27). See NIDNTT-A, 276. William D. Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 691–693. Furnished by Rick Livermore Webmaster220 San Juan Capistrano California –  https://rick-livermore-on-blogger.blogspot.com/