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 out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled.
His breath kindles 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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Smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled.
His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
A smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire devoured out of His mouth; coals were kindled by it.
At the brightness before Him, His dark clouds passed through, hailstones and coals of fire passed. Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of broom.
Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
As coals to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man to kindle fighting.
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, snatched with tongs from the altar.
And none thinks within his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread on the coals of it; I have roasted flesh and eaten; and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood.
Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed 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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Exhaustion by famine, and consumption by burning heat, and bitter destruction, and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of crawling things of the dust.
Exhaustion by famine, and consumption by burning heat, and bitter destruction, and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of crawling things of the dust.
And behold, the whole family has risen against your handmaid. And they said, Deliver him who struck his brother so that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed. And we will destroy the heir also. And so they shall put out my coal which is left, and shall leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the face of the earth.
And behold, the whole family has risen against your handmaid. And they said, Deliver him who struck his brother so that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed. And we will destroy the heir also. And so they shall put out my coal which is left, and shall leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the face of the earth.
Smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.
Smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled.
From the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled.
And he looked, and, behold, a cake was baked on the coals, and a jug of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and lay down again.
And he looked, and, behold, a cake was baked on the coals, and a jug of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and lay down again.
At the brightness before Him, His dark clouds passed through, hailstones and coals of fire passed.
At the brightness before Him, His dark clouds passed through, hailstones and coals of fire passed. Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
nor for the plague that walks in darkness, of the destruction laying waste at noonday.
nor for the plague that walks in darkness, of the destruction laying waste at noonday.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of broom.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of broom.
Let burning coals fall on them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, so that they do not rise up again.
Let burning coals fall on them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, so that they do not rise up again.
for you shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and Jehovah shall reward you.
for you shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and Jehovah shall reward you.
As coals to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man to kindle fighting.
As coals to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man to kindle fighting.
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, snatched with tongs from the altar.
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, snatched with tongs from the altar.
Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood.
Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood.
Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.
Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed by hell.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed 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 behold, the whole family has risen against your handmaid. And they said, Deliver him who struck his brother so that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed. And we will destroy the heir also. And so they shall put out my coal which is left, and shall leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the face of the earth.
And he looked, and, behold, a cake was baked on the coals, and a jug of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and lay down again.
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of broom.
The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, snatched with tongs from the altar.
He cuts down cedars, and takes cypress and oak, which he makes the trees of the forest strong for him; he plants a tree, and the rain makes it grow. And it shall be for a man to burn; for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god and worships; he makes it a graven image and falls down to it. read more. He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts roast and is satisfied; yea, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.
And the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month; also with the burning fire-pan before him.
In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire among cut grain. And they shall devour all the peoples all around, on the right hand and on the left hand. And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her 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, a cake was baked on the coals, and a jug of water at his head. 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 shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and Jehovah shall reward you.
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, snatched with tongs from the altar.
And the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold. And they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.
Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing you shall 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 out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it.
From the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled.
A smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire devoured out of His mouth; coals were kindled by it.
At the brightness before Him, His dark clouds passed through, hailstones and coals of fire passed. Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
Let burning coals fall on them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, so that they do not rise up again.
As coals to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man to kindle fighting.