Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; glowing coals blazed forth.
Parallel translations
- WEB Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.
- KJV There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
- NKJV Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it.
- NASB Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth was devouring; Coals burned from it.
- NLT Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Smoke and consuming fire pour from God as he comes in judgment. It matters because it depicts the burning holiness and power of God acting against evil.
Overview
The theophany intensifies with smoke from God's nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth kindling coals. This dramatic imagery portrays the fierce holiness of God roused against the wicked. It reminds readers that the God who saves is also a consuming fire, whose judgment falls on sin but whose deliverance shelters his people in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 21:9You will place them in a fiery furnace at the time of Your appearing. In His wrath the LORD will engulf them, and the fire will consume them.
- Ps 11:6On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.
- Nah 1:5–6The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
- Lev 10:2So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the LORD.
- Dan 7:10A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.
- Num 16:35And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
- Amos 4:11“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
- Ps 144:5–6Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- Gen 19:28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
- Ps 74:1A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
- Rev 11:5If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed.
- Num 11:1Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
- Ps 104:32He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.
- Ps 50:3Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
- Deut 29:23–24All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
- Deut 29:20The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 18:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.