Reference: Coal
American
Usually in Scripture, charcoal, or the embers of fire. Mineral coal is now procured in mount Lebanon, eight hours from Beirut; but we have no certainty that it was known and used by the Jews. The following passages are those which most strongly suggest this substance, 2Sa 22:9,13; Job 41:21.
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There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire.
His breath puts fire to coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
Easton
It is by no means certain that the Hebrews were acquainted with mineral coal, although it is found in Syria. Their common fuel was dried dung of animals and wood charcoal. Two different words are found in Hebrew to denote coal, both occurring in Pr 26:21, "As coal [Heb. peham; i.e., "black coal"] is to burning coal [Heb. gehalim]." The latter of these words is used in Job 41:21; Pr 6:28; Isa 44:19. The words "live coal" in Isa 6:6 are more correctly "glowing stone." In La 4:8 the expression "blacker than a coal" is literally rendered in the margin of the Revised Version "darker than blackness." "Coals of fire" (2Sa 22:9,13; Ps 18:8,12-13, etc.) is an expression used metaphorically for lightnings proceeding from God. A false tongue is compared to "coals of juniper" (Ps 120:4; Jas 3:6). "Heaping coals of fire on the head" symbolizes overcoming evil with good. The words of Paul (Ro 12:20) are equivalent to saying, "By charity and kindness thou shalt soften down his enmity as surely as heaping coals on the fire fuses the metal in the crucible."
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There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire.
His breath puts fire to coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: flames were lighted by it.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and fire. The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out: a rain of ice and fire.
Or may one go on lighted coals, and his feet not be burned?
Like breath on coals and wood on fire, so a man given to argument gets a fight started.
Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon.
And no one takes note, no one has enough knowledge or wisdom to say, I have put part of it in the fire, and made bread on it; I have had a meal of the flesh cooked with it: and am I now to make the rest of it into a false god? am I to go down on my face before a bit of wood?
Their face is blacker than night; in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood.
But if one who has hate for you is in need of food or of drink, give it to him, for in so doing you will put coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.
Fausets
pecham, "a black coal," and gachelath, "burning coals." Pr 26:21; "as coals (fuel) are to burning coals," etc.; so we speak of quarrelsome men "adding fuel to the flame." "Coals of fire" in 2Sa 22:9,13, represent the lightning of God's wrath. In Pr 25:22, "heap coals of fire upon thine enemy's head" (Ro 12:20), the meaning is, melt him into burning shame at his own unworthy hatred, and love for thee who hast overcome his evil with thy good. Either he shall be like metals melted by fire or like clay hardened by it. In Ps 120:4 "coals of juniper" rather burning brands of broom, retamim. The Arabs regard the retem (broom) the best firewood.
As their slanders burnt like coals on fire, so, by righteous retribution in kind, God will give them hot coals. Ps 140:10; 18:12-13; compare the same image of the tongue, Jas 3:6. In 2Sa 14:7 "they shall quench my coal that is left," i.e., extinguish the only surviving light of my home, my only son. In Isa 6:6 and 1Ki 19:6 the "coals" are in the Hebrew (rezeph) hot stones, on which cakes were baked and flesh cooked. In Hab 3:5 (resheph) "burning coals" poetically and figuratively express "burning diseases," as the parallel "pestilence" shows; also compare De 32:24; Ps 91:6. In La 4:8 translate as margin darker than blackness." Mineral coal protrudes through the strata to the surface of parts of Lebanon, at Cornale, eight miles from Beirut, the coal seams are three feet thick; but it seems not to have been anciently known as fuel. Charcoal is what is meant by "coal."
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They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust.
They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust.
And now all the family is turned against me, your servant, saying, Give up him who was the cause of his brother's death, so that we may put him to death in payment for the life of his brother, whose life he took; and we will put an end to the one who will get the heritage: so they will put out my last burning coal, and my husband will have no name or offspring on the face of the earth.
And now all the family is turned against me, your servant, saying, Give up him who was the cause of his brother's death, so that we may put him to death in payment for the life of his brother, whose life he took; and we will put an end to the one who will get the heritage: so they will put out my last burning coal, and my husband will have no name or offspring on the face of the earth.
There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it.
There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire.
And looking up, he saw by his head a cake cooked on the stones and a bottle of water. So he took food and drink and went to sleep again.
And looking up, he saw by his head a cake cooked on the stones and a bottle of water. So he took food and drink and went to sleep again.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and fire.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and fire. The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out: a rain of ice and fire.
The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out: a rain of ice and fire.
Or of the disease which takes men in the dark, or of the destruction which makes waste when the sun is high.
Or of the disease which takes men in the dark, or of the destruction which makes waste when the sun is high.
Let burning flames come down on them: let them be put into the fire, and into deep waters, so that they may not get up again.
Let burning flames come down on them: let them be put into the fire, and into deep waters, so that they may not get up again.
For so you will put coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will give you your reward.
For so you will put coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will give you your reward.
Like breath on coals and wood on fire, so a man given to argument gets a fight started.
Like breath on coals and wood on fire, so a man given to argument gets a fight started.
Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon.
Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon.
Their face is blacker than night; in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood.
Their face is blacker than night; in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood.
But if one who has hate for you is in need of food or of drink, give it to him, for in so doing you will put coals of fire on his head.
But if one who has hate for you is in need of food or of drink, give it to him, for in so doing you will put coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.
And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.
Hastings
Mineral coal was unknown in Bible times. Wherever 'coal' (or 'coals') is mentioned, therefore, we must in the great majority of cases understand wood or charcoal. Several species of wood used for heating purposes are named in Isa 44:14-16, to which Ps 120:4 adds 'coals of broom' (Revised Version margin). In two cases, however, the 'live coal' of Isaiah's vision (Isa 6:6) and the 'coals' on which was 'a cake haken' for Elijah (1Ki 19:6), the Heb. word denotes a hot stone (so Revised Version margin
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And now all the family is turned against me, your servant, saying, Give up him who was the cause of his brother's death, so that we may put him to death in payment for the life of his brother, whose life he took; and we will put an end to the one who will get the heritage: so they will put out my last burning coal, and my husband will have no name or offspring on the face of the earth.
And looking up, he saw by his head a cake cooked on the stones and a bottle of water. So he took food and drink and went to sleep again.
There is a glad dawn for the upright man, but the light of the sinner will be put out.
Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon.
He has cedars cut down for himself, he takes an oak and lets it get strong among the trees of the wood; he has an ash-tree planted, and the rain gives it growth. Then it will be used to make a fire, so that a man may get warm; he has the oven heated with it and makes bread: he makes a god with it, to which he gives worship: he makes a pictured image out of it, and goes down on his face before it. read more. With part of it he makes a fire, and on the fire he gets meat cooked and takes a full meal: he makes himself warm, and says, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire:
Now the king was seated in the winter house, and a fire was burning in the fireplace in front of him.
In that day I will make the families of Judah like a pot with fire in it among trees, and like a flaming stick among cut grain; they will send destruction on all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem will be living again in the place which is hers, that is, in Jerusalem.
Morish
Mineral coal is now known to exist in the Lebanon range, but was unknown in Biblical times. Fires were seldom needed for warmth, and were as a rule used only for the cooking of food: the fire named in Joh 18:18 was in the night; food was cooked by charcoal or by warming the ovens with any vegetable refuse. The coal generally referred to in the O.T. was charcoal; but other words are used which imply the hot or glowing stones on which cakes were cooked. 1Ki 19:6; Cant. 8:6; Isa 6:6; Hab 3:5.
Heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head by kindness (Pr 25:21-22; Ro 12:20) becomes a test to him (as metal is tested by the fire), the kindness shown him will either bring about contrition and friendship, or harden him yet the more.
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And looking up, he saw by his head a cake cooked on the stones and a bottle of water. So he took food and drink and went to sleep again.
If your hater is in need of food, give him bread; and if he is in need of drink, give him water: For so you will put coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will give you your reward.
Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon.
Now the servants and the police had made a fire of coals because it was cold; they were warming themselves in front of it and Peter was there with them, warming himself.
But if one who has hate for you is in need of food or of drink, give it to him, for in so doing you will put coals of fire on his head.
Smith
Coal.
The first and most frequent use of the word rendered coal is a live ember, burning fuel.
In
coals of fire are put metaphorically for the lightnings proceeding from God.
In
fuel not yet lighted is clearly signified. The fuel meant in the above passage is probably charcoal, and not coal in our sense of the word.
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There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire.
There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: flames were lighted by it.
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and fire. The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out: a rain of ice and fire.
Let burning flames come down on them: let them be put into the fire, and into deep waters, so that they may not get up again.
Like breath on coals and wood on fire, so a man given to argument gets a fight started.