The verb biazō is used in the Septuagint to mean constrain, pressure someone into doing something, force a person to do something (including the sense of forcing a woman to have sex), force down a door, stop the current of a river. In the NT it is found only in Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16:16. According to Liddell and Scott the word has a similar range of meaning in non-biblical Greek. The more difficult question is whether the form biazeta is middle (‘comes forcefully or violently) or passive (‘is subjected to force or violence’).