HARD . Besides other meanings which are still in use, ‘hard’ sometimes means close: Judges 9:52 ‘And Abimelech â€¦ went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire’; Psalms 63:8 ‘My soul followeth hard after thee’; Acts 18:7 ‘Justus â€¦ whose house joined hard to the synagogue.’ Cf. Job 17:1 in Coverdale, ‘I am harde at deathes dore.’

Hardiness is used in Jdt 16:10 for courage: ‘the Medes were daunted at her hardiness’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘boldness’).

Hardly means either ‘harshly,’ as Genesis 16:5 ‘Sarai dealt hardly with her,’ or ‘with difficulty,’ as Exodus 13:15 ‘Pharaoh would hardly let us go’; Matthew 19:23 ‘a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven’; Luke 9:39 ‘bruising him, hardly departeth from him’; Acts 27:8 ‘And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens.’ So Adams ( 2 Peter 1:4 ) ‘He that hath done evil once, shall more hardly resist it at the next assault.’

Hardness for modern ‘hardship’ occurs in 2 Timothy 2:3 ‘endure hardness as a good soldier.’ Cf. Shakespeare, Cymb . iii. vi. 21

‘Hardness ever

Of hardiness is mother.’

Bibliography Information
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Hard'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/h/hard.html. 1909.

Bible Dictionaries Hard

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Bible Dictionaries
Hard