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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Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth.
His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from 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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Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth.
His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?"
Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."
And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by 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 shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, 'Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.' And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth."
And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, 'Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.' And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth."
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth.
Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth.
And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!
A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!
Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise!
Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise!
for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."
To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."
And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by 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 the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, 'Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.' And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth."
And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!
The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. read more. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!"
It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him.
"On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, 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 he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals 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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Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth.
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise!
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.