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 fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness of his presence, coals of fire were kindled.
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 fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness of his presence, coals of fire were kindled.
Smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Charcoal for burning coals and wood for fire, and a contentious man to kindle strife.
Then one of the seraphim flew unto me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
He does not return to his right mind; he does not have knowledge nor intelligence to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; I have also baked bread upon the coals of it; I have roasted flesh and eaten it and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Do I have to humble myself before the trunk of a tree?
Cheth Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered; it is dry like a stick.
Therefore, if thine enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our nature; and it is set on fire of 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 consumed with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
They shall be consumed with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
And, behold, the whole family is risen against thy handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew, and we will destroy the heir also. So they shall quench my coal which is left and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
And, behold, the whole family is risen against thy handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew, and we will destroy the heir also. So they shall quench my coal which is left and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness of his presence, coals of fire were kindled.
From the brightness of his presence, coals of fire were kindled.
Then he looked and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank and went back to sleep.
Then he looked and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank and went back to sleep.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
The LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday.
nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday.
Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they not rise up again.
Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they not rise up again.
for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.
for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.
Charcoal for burning coals and wood for fire, and a contentious man to kindle strife.
Charcoal for burning coals and wood for fire, and a contentious man to kindle strife.
Then one of the seraphim flew unto me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Then one of the seraphim flew unto me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Cheth Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered; it is dry like a stick.
Cheth Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered; it is dry like a stick.
Before his face went mortality, and burning coals went forth from his feet.
Before his face went mortality, and burning coals went forth from his feet.
Therefore, if thine enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Therefore, if thine enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our nature; and it is set on fire of 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, behold, the whole family is risen against thy handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew, and we will destroy the heir also. So they shall quench my coal which is left and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
Then he looked and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank and went back to sleep.
The light of the righteous shall rejoice: but the fire of the wicked shall be put out.
Then one of the seraphim flew unto me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
He shall hew down cedars and take the cypress and the oak, and he shall strengthen himself with the trees of the forest; he shall plant a fir tree, which shall be nourished with the rain. The man shall then use of it for firewood; for he will take thereof and warm himself; he will kindle it and bake bread; he will also make a god and worship it; he will fabricate an idol and shall kneel down before it. read more. He shall burn part of it in the fire; with another part thereof he shall eat flesh; he shall roast meat and shall satisfy himself. Afterwards he shall warm himself and say, Aha, I have warmed myself, I have seen fire;
Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
In that day I will make the captains of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood and like a torch of fire among the sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even 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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Then he looked and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank and went back to sleep.
If thy enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.
Then one of the seraphim flew unto me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Before his face went mortality, and burning coals went forth from his feet.
And the slaves and servants stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves; and Peter stood with them and warmed himself.
Therefore, if thine enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap 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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Smoke went up from his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness of his presence, coals of fire were kindled.
Smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they not rise up again.
Charcoal for burning coals and wood for fire, and a contentious man to kindle strife.