βιάζω: (βία); to use force, to apply force; τινα, to force, inflict violence on, one; the active is very rare and almost exclusively poetic (from Homer down); passive (Buttmann, 53 (46)) in Mat 11:12 ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ οὐρανοῦ βιάζεται, the kingdom of heaven is taken by violence, carried by storm, i. e. a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought for with the most ardent zeal and the intensest exertion; cf. Xenophon, Hell. 5, 2, 15 (23) πόλεις τάς βεβιασμενας; (but see Weiss, James Morison, Norton, in the place cited). The other explanation: the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence namely, from its enemies, agrees neither with the time when Christ spoke the words, nor with the context; cf. Fritzsche, DeWette, Meyer, at the passage, middle, βιάζομαι followed by εἰς τί to force one’s way into a thing, (ἐς τήν Ποτιδαιαν, Thucydides 1, 63; ἐς τό ἔξω, 7, 69; εἰς τήν παρεμβολήν, Polybius 1, 74, 5; εἰς τά ἐντός, Philo, vit. Moys. i., § 19; εἰς τό στρατόπεδον, Plutarch, Otho 12, etc.): εἰς τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, to get a share in the kingdom of God by the utmost earnestness and effort, Luk 16:16. (Compare: παραβιάζομαι.)