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 ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.
From the brightness in front of him came coals of fire.
Its breath sets coals ablaze and a flame shoots from its 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 ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.
From the brightness in front of him came coals of fire.
Its breath sets coals ablaze and a flame shoots from its mouth.
Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.
From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals. The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
Here's how! With the sharp arrows of warriors, with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.
Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?
Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious person to kindle strife.
But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.
No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: 'I burned half of it in the fire -- yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?'
(Khet) Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.
Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.
And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence -- and is 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 will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
Now the entire family has risen up against your servant, saying, 'Turn over the one who struck down his brother, so that we can execute him and avenge the death of his brother whom he killed. In so doing we will also destroy the heir.' They want to extinguish my remaining coal, leaving no one on the face of the earth to carry on the name of my husband."
Now the entire family has risen up against your servant, saying, 'Turn over the one who struck down his brother, so that we can execute him and avenge the death of his brother whom he killed. In so doing we will also destroy the heir.' They want to extinguish my remaining coal, leaving no one on the face of the earth to carry on the name of my husband."
Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.
Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.
From the brightness in front of him came coals of fire.
From the brightness in front of him came coals of fire.
He looked and right there by his head was a cake baking on hot coals and a jug of water. He ate and drank and then slept some more.
He looked and right there by his head was a cake baking on hot coals and a jug of water. He ate and drank and then slept some more.
From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals.
From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals. The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
the plague that comes in the darkness, or the disease that comes at noon.
the plague that comes in the darkness, or the disease that comes at noon.
Here's how! With the sharp arrows of warriors, with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.
Here's how! With the sharp arrows of warriors, with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.
May he rain down fiery coals upon them! May he throw them into the fire! From bottomless pits they will not escape.
May he rain down fiery coals upon them! May he throw them into the fire! From bottomless pits they will not escape.
for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.
for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.
Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious person to kindle strife.
Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious person to kindle strife.
But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.
But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.
(Khet) Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.
(Khet) Now their appearance is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.
Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.
Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.
And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence -- and is set on fire by hell.
And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence -- and is 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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Now the entire family has risen up against your servant, saying, 'Turn over the one who struck down his brother, so that we can execute him and avenge the death of his brother whom he killed. In so doing we will also destroy the heir.' They want to extinguish my remaining coal, leaving no one on the face of the earth to carry on the name of my husband."
He looked and right there by his head was a cake baking on hot coals and a jug of water. He ate and drank and then slept some more.
Here's how! With the sharp arrows of warriors, with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.
The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.
But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.
He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress or an oak. He gets trees from the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow. A man uses it to make a fire; he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. read more. Half of it he burns in the fire -- over that half he cooks meat; he roasts a meal and fills himself. Yes, he warms himself and says, 'Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.'
Since it was the ninth month of the year, the king was sitting in his winter quarters. A fire was burning in the firepot in front of him.
On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like an igniter among sticks and a burning torch among sheaves, and they will burn up all the surrounding nations right and left. Then the people of Jerusalem will settle once more in their place, the city of 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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He looked and right there by his head was a cake baking on hot coals and a jug of water. He ate and drank and then slept some more.
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.
But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.
(Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.)
Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping 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 ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.
From the brightness in front of him came coals of fire.
Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.
From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals. The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
May he rain down fiery coals upon them! May he throw them into the fire! From bottomless pits they will not escape.
Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious person to kindle strife.