'Burning' in the Bible
In the Tent of Meeting [of God with His people], outside the veil which is in front of the [ark of the] Testimony [and sets it apart], Aaron [the high priest] and his sons shall keep the lamp burning from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual statute [to be observed] throughout their generations on behalf of the Israelites.
“Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall remain on the hearth that is on the altar all night until morning and the fire is to be kept burning on the altar.
The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it shall not [be allowed to] go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and offer the fat portions of the peace offerings up in smoke on it.
The fire shall be burning continually on the altar; it shall not [be allowed to] go out.
Then Moses said to Aaron and to his [younger] sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor let your hair hang loose nor tear your clothes [as expressions of mourning], so that you will not die [also] and so that He will not express His wrath and anger toward all the congregation. But your relatives, the whole house of Israel, may mourn the burning which the Lord has brought about.
He shall take a censer full of burning coals from the [bronze] altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil [into the Most Holy Place],
He named that place Taberah (the place of burning), because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
“Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, that he is to pick up the censers from the midst of the blaze for they are holy; and you scatter the burning coals abroad.
So Aaron took the burning censer as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague had [already] begun among the people; and he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.
The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet [material] and cast them into the midst of the burning heifer.
Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for the purification from sin, and running water shall be added to them in a container.
Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died.
And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the leaders (heads) of your tribes and your elders;
“So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
‘They will be wasted by hunger, and consumed by plagueAnd a bitter destruction;And I will send the teeth of beasts against them,With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
He also deposed his [great-grand]mother Maacah from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid (obscene, vulgar) image for [the goddess] Asherah. Asa cut down her horrid image, and burned it by the Brook Kidron.
Then Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And they brought it and placed it on the [painful] inflammation, and he recovered.”
Observe, I am about to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God, dedicated to Him, to burn fragrant incense [of sweet spices] before Him, to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on Sabbaths, New Moons, and on the festivals of the Lord our God, as ordained forever in Israel.
They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the City of David, and they laid him on a bier which he had filled with various kinds of spices blended by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire in his honor.
Upon the wicked (godless) He will rain coals of fire;Fire and brimstone and a dreadful scorching wind will be the portion of their cup [of doom].
For my sides are filled with burning,And there is no health in my flesh.
Before your cooking pots can feel the fire of thorns [burning under them as fuel],He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.
Pour out Your indignation on them,And let [the fierceness of] Your burning anger overtake them.
Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked,Who reject Your law.
“Let burning coals fall upon them;Let them be thrown into the fire,Into deep [water] pits from which they cannot rise.
Like a [common] clay vessel covered with the silver dross [making it appear silver when it has no real value]Are burning lips [murmuring manipulative words] and a wicked heart.
When the Lord has washed away the [moral] filth of the daughters of Zion and has cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, will send a wasting disease among the stout warriors of Assyria;And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
Then I will harass Ariel,And she will be a city of mourning and lamenting (crying out in grief)Yet she will be like an Ariel [an altar hearth] to Me.
Now look, the name of the Lord comes from far away,Burning with His anger, and heavy with smoke;His lips are full of indignation,And His tongue is like a consuming fire.
For Topheth [in Hinnom] has long been ready;Indeed, it has been prepared for the [Assyrian] king.He has made it deep and wide,A pit of fire with plenty of wood;The breath of the Lord, like a river of brimstone (blazing sulfur), kindles and fans it.
The streams [of Edom] will be turned into pitch,And its dust into brimstone,And its land will become burning pitch.
The burning will not be quenched night or day;Its smoke will go up forever.From generation to generation it will lie in ruins;No one will ever again pass through it.
And the burning sand (mirage) will become a pool [of water]And the thirsty ground springs of water;In the haunt of jackals, where they lay resting,Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
“A broken reed He will not break [off]And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish [He will not harm those who are weak and suffering];He will faithfully bring forth justice.
For Zion’s sake I (Isaiah) will not be silent,And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,Until her righteousness and vindication go forth as brightness,And her salvation goes forth like a burning torch.
The people who continually provoke Me to My face,Sacrificing [to idols] in gardens and making offerings with incense on bricks [instead of at the designated altar];
Because the people [of Jerusalem] have abandoned (rejected) Me and have made this an alien and profaned place by burning sacrifices and incense in it to other gods, that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent
If I say, “I will not remember HimOr speak His name anymore,”Then my heart becomes a burning fireShut up in my bones.And I am weary of enduring and holding it in;I cannot endure it [nor contain it any longer].
You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for [the memory and honor of] your fathers, the former kings who reigned before you, so shall a [ceremonial] burning be made for you; and people will lament (grieve) for you, saying, “Alas, lord (master)!”’ For I have spoken the word,” says the Lord.
Now it was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, with a fire burning there in the brazier before him.
Why do you [deliberately] provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) of your hands, burning sacrifices and incense to [make-believe] gods in the land of Egypt, where you [of your own accord] have come to live [as temporary residents], that you might be cut off and become a curse and a disgrace [an object of taunts] among all the nations of the earth?
Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing by, a large group, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah, saying,
But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
“Behold, I am against you,O destroying mountain [conqueror of nations],Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the Lord,“I will stretch out My hand against you,And roll you down from the [rugged] cliffs,And will make you a burnt mountain (extinct volcano).
Our skin is as hot as [the heat of] an ovenBecause of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine.
Among the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.
Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.”
Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.
Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image which I have made, very good. But if you do not worship, you shall be thrown at once into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can rescue you out of my hands?”
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.
He commanded certain strong men in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.
Then these [three] men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their turbans, and their other clothes, and were thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.
But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing furnace and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, servants of the Most High God, come out [of there]! Come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire.
“I kept lookingUntil thrones were set up,And the Ancient of Days (God) took His seat;His garment was white as snowAnd the hair of His head like pure wool.His throne was flames of fire;Its wheels were a burning fire.
The more they [the prophets] called them [to repentance and obedience],The more they went away from them;They kept sacrificing to the BaalsAnd burning incense to the carved images.
“Offer [by burning] a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,And [boastfully] proclaim freewill offerings, announce them.For this you so love to do, O children of Israel!”Says the Lord God.
“I overthrew and destroyed [some among] you, as [I, your] God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,And you were [rescued] like a log pulled out of the flame;Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.
Then one’s uncle, or his undertaker, shall come to bring the [disease-infected] body out of the house, [to cremate it], and he will say to another in the farthest part of the house, “Is there anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will respond, “Hush! Keep quiet! For the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned [even casually, for fear that we might invoke even more punishment].”
Before Him goes the pestilence [of judgment as in Egypt],And [the burning] plague [of condemnation] follows at His feet [as in Sennacherib’s army].
“A battered reed He will not break,And a smoldering wick He will not extinguish,Until He leads justice to victory.
But concerning the raising of the dead, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
And all the congregation was praying outside [in the court of the temple] at the hour of the incense offering.
Then Jesus got up and left the synagogue and went to Simon’s (Peter’s) house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.
“Be dressed and ready for active service, and keep your lamps continuously burning.
But [as for the fact] that the dead are raised [from death], even Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and opening the Scriptures to us?”
John was the lamp that kept on burning and shining [to show you the way], and you were willing for a while to rejoice in his light.
“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.
This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being spiritually impassioned, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John;
and in the same way also the men turned away from the natural function of the woman and were consumed with their desire toward one another, men with men committing shameful acts and in return receiving in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their wrongdoing.
never lagging behind in diligence; aglow in the Spirit, enthusiastically serving the Lord;
But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.”
That is why I remind you to fan into flame the gracious gift of God, [that inner fire—the special endowment] which is in you through the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination].
but a kind of awful and terrifying expectation of [divine] judgment and the fury of a fire and burning wrath which will consume the adversaries [those who put themselves in opposition to God].
Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I rebuke and discipline [showing them their faults and instructing them]; so be enthusiastic and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will].
And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb (Christ), each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of fragrant incense, which are the prayers of the saints (God’s people).
The third angel sounded [his trumpet], and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch [flashing across the sky], and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of [fresh] waters.
and exclaimed as they watched the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What could be compared to the great city?’
And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke shall ascend forever and ever.”
And the devil who had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and burning brimstone (sulfur), where the beast (Antichrist) and false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.