'Fire' in the Bible

Your land lies desolate [because of your disobedience],Your cities are burned with fire,Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your very presence;It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

then the Lord will create over the entire site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory and brilliance will be a canopy [a defense, a covering of His divine love and protection].

Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]And the dry grass collapses into the flame,So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hostsAnd despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.

For every boot of the marching warrior in the battle tumult,And [every soldier’s] garment rolled in blood, will be used for burning, fuel for the fire.

For wickedness burns like a fire;It consumes briars and thorns,It even sets the forest thickets ablaze;And it swirls upward in a column of smoke.

By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up,And the people are like fuel for the fire;No man spares his brother.

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.

And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame,And it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and briars in a single day.

Then the full moon will be embarrassed and the sun ashamed,For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,And His glory and brilliance will shine before His elders.

Though Your hand is lifted up [to strike], O Lord, the wicked do not see it.Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame;Indeed, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.

You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise,With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

“Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,Crushed so savagelythat there cannot be found among its pieces a potsherd [large enough]To take [coals of] fire from a fireplace,Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

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.

And the Lord will make His majestic voice heard,And show the descending of His arm [striking] in [His] fierce anger,And in the flame of a devouring fire,In the crashing sound of heavy rain, cloudburst, and hailstones.

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.

“His rock [his stronghold] will pass away because of panic,And his princes will be terrified at the [sight of the battle] standard,”Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

“You have conceived dried grass, you will give birth to stubble;My breath is a fire that will consume you.

“The peoples will be burned to lime,Like thorns cut down which are burned in the fire.

The sinners in Zion are terrified;Trembling has seized the godless.[They cry] “Who among us can live with the consuming fire?Who among us can live with everlasting burning?”

and have cast the gods [of those peoples] into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

Therefore He poured out on Israel the heat of His angerAnd the fierceness of battle;And engulfed him in fire,Yet he did not recognize [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach];It burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;And through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched,Nor will the flame burn you.

Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god [from the same wood] and worships it. He makes it into a carved idol [with his own hands] and falls down and worships it!

He burns half of the wood in the fire; over this half he [cooks and] eats meat, he roasts meat and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.”

No one remembers, nor has knowledge and understanding [enough] to say [to himself], “I have burned half of this log in the fire, and also baked bread on its coals and have roasted meat and eaten it. Then I make the rest of it into an repulsive thing [to God]; I bow down [to worship] before a block of wood!”

“In fact, they are like stubble;Fire burns them.They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame [much less save the nation],There is no blazing coal for warmingNor fire before which to sit!

Listen carefully, all you who kindle your own fire [devising your own man-made plan of salvation],Who surround yourselves with torches,Walk by the light of your [self-made] fireAnd among the torches that you have set ablaze.But this you will have from My hand:You will lie down in [a place of] torment.

“Listen carefully, I have created the smith who blows on the fire of coalsAnd who produces a weapon for its purpose;And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin.

As [sure as] fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—To make Your name known to Your adversaries,That the nations may tremble at Your presence!

Our holy and beautiful house [the temple built by Solomon],Where our fathers praised You,Has been burned by fire;And all our precious objects are in ruins.

Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me,For I am too holy for you [and you might defile me]!’These [people] are smoke in My nostrils,A fire that burns all the day.

For indeed, the Lord will come in fireAnd His chariots will be like the stormy wind,To render His anger with rage,And His rebuke with flames of fire.

For the Lord will execute judgment by fireAnd by His sword on all mankind,And those slain by the Lord will be many.

“Then they will go forth and lookUpon the dead bodies of the [rebellious] menWho have transgressed against Me;For their worm (maggot) will not die,And their fire will not go out;And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”