'Fire' in the Bible

“Circumcise (dedicate, sanctify) yourselves to the LordAnd remove the foreskin [sins] of your heart,Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,Or else My wrath will go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way]And burn and there will be no one to quench it,Because of the evil of your acts.”

Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts,“Because you [people] have spoken this word,Behold, I am making My words a fire in your mouth [Jeremiah]And this people wood, and My words will consume them.

“Run for safety, you children of Benjamin,Out of the midst of Jerusalem!And blow a trumpet in Tekoa [in Judah]And raise a signal-fire in Beth-haccherem [near Jerusalem];For evil is looking down [with eager anticipation] from the north,And great destruction.

The bellows blow fiercely,The lead is consumed by the fire;In vain they continue refining,But the wicked are not separated and removed.

The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods that they may offend and provoke Me to anger.

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [to honor Molech, the fire god]—which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart (mind).

The Lord [acknowledged you once as worthy and] called your name,“A green olive tree, fair and beautiful in fruit and form”;But with the roar of a great tempestHe has set fire to it,And its branches are worthless.

“Then I will make your enemies bring [you along with] your possessionsInto a land which you do not know [for there you will serve your conquerors];For a fire has been kindled in My anger,Which will burn upon you.”

And you will, through your own fault, let go of your [grip on your] inheritanceThat I gave you;And I will make you serve your enemiesIn a land which you do not know;For you have kindled a fire in My angerWhich will burn forever.

But if you will not listen to Me and keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load as you come in the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in her gates that cannot be extinguished, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”’”

and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind (heart);

If I say, “I will not remember HimOr speak His name anymore,”Then my heart becomes a burning fireShut up in my bones.And I am weary of enduring and holding it in;I cannot endure it [nor contain it any longer].

For I have set My face against this city to do harm and not good,” says the Lord. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.”’

O house of David, thus says the Lord:“Administer justice in the morning,And rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor,That My wrath will not roar up like fireAnd burn so [hotly] that none can extinguish it,Because of the evil of their deeds.

“But I will punish you in accordance with the [appropriate] consequences of your decisions and your actions,” says the Lord.“I will kindle a fire in your forest,And it will devour all that is around you.”’”

“For I will prepare and appoint destroyers [to execute My judgments] against you,Each with his weapons;And they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedarsAnd throw them in the fire.

“Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]?” says the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the [most stubborn] rock [in pieces]?

Because of them, this curse shall be taken up and used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,

The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in and set this city on fire and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

They built the high places [for worship] of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom) to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to [worship and honor] Molech—which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this repulsive thing, to cause Judah to sin.

“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will set it on fire and burn it down.

Behold, I am going to command [the Chaldeans who rule Babylon],’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and set it on fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’”

Now it was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, with a fire burning there in the brazier before him.

And after Jehudi had read three or four columns [of the scroll], King Jehoiakim would cut off that portion with a scribe’s knife and throw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until the [entire] scroll was consumed by the fire.

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.

And the Chaldeans [of Babylon] will come again and fight against this city, and they will capture it and set it on fire.”’

For even if you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only the wounded men among them, yet they would rise up, every man confined in his tent, and burn down this city with fire.’”

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘If you will go out and surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live and this city will not be burned with fire; and you and your household will live.

But if you will not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans [of Babylon] and they will set it on fire; and you yourself will not escape from their hand.’”

Also, all your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans; and you yourself will not escape from their hand, but you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city [Jerusalem] will be burned down with fire.’”

And [through him] I will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them (Egyptian idols) captive. He will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will go away from there safely.

Nebuchadnezzar will also break the images and shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis in the land of Egypt; and he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.”’”

“In the shadow of HeshbonThe fugitives stand powerless [helpless and without strength],For a fire has gone out from Heshbon,A flame from the midst of Sihon;It has destroyed the forehead of MoabAnd the crowns of the heads of [the arrogant Moabites] the ones in tumult.

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,“When I will cause an alarm of war to be heardAgainst Rabbah of the Ammonites;And it [along with the high ground on which it stands] will become a desolate heap,And its villages will be set on fire.Then will Israel take possession of his possessors,”Says the Lord.

“I will set fire to the wall of Damascus,And it will consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.”

“The arrogant (proud) one will stumble and fallWith no one to raise him up;And I will set fire to his citiesAnd it will devour all who are around him.”

And that the fords [across the Euphrates] have been blocked and [the ferries] seized,And they have set the [great] marshes on fire,And the men of war are terrified.

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“The broad wall of Babylon will be completely overthrown and the foundations razedAnd her high gates will be set on fire;The peoples will labor in vain,And the nations become exhausted [only] for fire [that will destroy their work].”

He burned down the house of the Lord and the king’s palace and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house or important structure he set on fire.