to run
trecho describes physical running and, in race imagery, sustained progress or effort toward a stated end.
The attested use chiefly concerns people or horses moving by running, often toward a person, tomb, announcement, or battle. It also frames perseverance, effort, and work through race imagery, while 2 Thessalonians 3:1 applies the expression to the Lord's word advancing and being glorified.
Senses in use
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Physical movement by running · dominant
The forms occur of people moving toward an immediate destination: in John 20:2 the APB renders a woman going to Simon Peter and the other disciple as having “ran,” and in John 20:4 two disciples are “running together” toward the tomb. In Luke 15:20, Mark 5:6, and Matthew 28:8, the APB likewise depicts a father, a man approaching Jesus, and women leaving the tomb as running; Revelation 9:9 compares the sound of wings to horse chariots “running toward war.”
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Race imagery for continuing effort · common
In 1 Corinthians 9:24, present active participial forms occur in the stadium comparison, where those running pursue the prize; 1 Corinthians 9:26 then presents the speaker's own course as not uncertain. Galatians 2:2 and Philippians 2:16 place the action in the possibility of having run “in vain,” while Galatians 5:7 and Hebrews 12:1 connect it with a formerly good course and persevering through the race set before the audience.
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The Lord's word advancing · rare
In 2 Thessalonians 3:1, the third-person present active subjunctive has “the word of the Lord” as the clause's subject; the APB renders the prayer as asking that it “may run and be glorified.” This extends the movement expression to the word's forward course in the stated prayer.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term with “ran” or “running” in scenes of bodily movement and retains “run” in the stadium and perseverance imagery. In 2 Thessalonians 3:1 it renders the clause “the word of the Lord may run”; these are verse-level renderings rather than definitions.