qal describes persons, animals, vehicles, and movement marked by rapid travel or pursuit.

The occurrences consistently describe rapid movement: runners and pursuers, messengers, horses, a cloud, and people or forces coming or passing quickly. The adjective is used both of entities characterized by speed and of movement portrayed as rapid in the surrounding clause.

1. Rapid in movement, travel, or pursuit · dominant

   The masculine singular form occurs of Asahel's feet in 2 Samuel 2:18, a cloud coming to Egypt in Isaiah 19:1, and a horseman's escape in Amos 2:15. Plural forms describe messengers in Isaiah 18:2 and pursuers in Lamentations 4:19; in Ecclesiastes 9:11, the APB renders the clause "the race is not to the swift," placing the term among those expected to prevail in a race.

   2 Samuel 2:18Ecclesiastes 9:11Isaiah 18:2Isaiah 19:1Amos 2:15Lamentations 4:19

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly uses "swift" or "swifter" for the persons, messengers, cloud, animals, and pursuers in these clauses, and uses "swiftly" and "speedily" for rapid coming or passing. These renderings confirm the verse-level portrayal rather than fixing an English equivalent in every instance.