📖 Biblical Definition
Vehement, in the KJV, names what is strong, fervent, forceful, and intense. Jonah’s shade-stripping "vehement east wind" drove him to despair under the gourd-vine (Jonah 4:8); the "rushing mighty wind" at Pentecost (Acts 2:2) was vehement; godly sorrow produced in the Corinthians "vehement desire" to make things right (2 Corinthians 7:11). The Song of Solomon calls love "a most vehement flame" (Song 8:6). The word reminds us that Scripture honors strong feeling rightly directed — covenantal love, holy zeal, sober earnestness — and rejects the modern flattening of every emotion into measured neutrality. The Christian man is permitted, and often required, to feel vehemently.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Strong, forceful, fervent.
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Strong, forceful, fervent in feeling or action; in Scripture used of natural forces (the wind God prepared for Jonah, the rushing mighty wind at Pentecost) and of moral-spiritual urgency (the vehement desire of repentant Corinthians to set things right).
📖 Key Scripture
Acts 2:2 — "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty (vehement) wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting."
Jonah 4:8 — "And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind."
2 Corinthians 7:11 — "What carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!"
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Faded from common speech; with it the precise category of holy intensity has weakened.
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Pentecost was vehement. Repentance can be vehement. The east wind God sends to teach Jonah was vehement. Christianity is not always quiet; sometimes it is rushing-mighty. Make room for vehement seasons of the Spirit.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek biaios — violent, vehement.
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['Greek', 'G972', 'biaios', 'violent, mighty']
['Hebrew', 'H2759', 'charishi', 'vehement']
Usage
"Make room for vehement Spirit-work."
"Repentance can be vehement."