2 Samuel 22:9

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, Fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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גֶּחָלִ֖ים

gechel

H1513

“coals”

Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute

Appears 18× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 16:12

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from an unused root

TWOT: 341a

coal, burning coal, coals of fire, hot coals

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is גֶּחָלִ֖ים coal H1513 — appearing just 18 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

גֶּחָלִ֖ים coal H1513 occurs in 18 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
5 nouns
1 preposition

Verb forms

עָלָ֤ה Qal · Perfect
תֹּאכֵ֑ל Qal · Imperfect
בָּעֲר֥וּ Qal · Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Samuel 22:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Hebrews 12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Psalms 18:15 Then the channels of waters appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
Exodus 15:7–8 In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you: You send forth your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
Exodus 19:18 Mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
Exodus 24:17 The appearance of the glory of Yahweh was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled in my anger, Burns to the lowest Sheol, Devours the earth with its increase, Sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
2 Samuel 22:13 At the brightness before him Coals of fire were kindled.
2 Samuel 22:16 Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare, By the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

Job 4:9 By the breath of God they perish, By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
Job 41:20–21 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, As of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
Psalms 18:8 Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.
Psalms 97:3–5 A fire goes before him, And burns up his adversaries on every side.
Isaiah 30:27 Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire;
Jeremiah 5:14 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Jeremiah 15:14 I will make [them] to pass with your enemies into a land which you don't know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn on you.
Habakkuk 3:5 Plague went before him, And pestilence followed his feet.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Samuel 22:9 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

עָלָ֤ה עָשָׁן֙ בְּאַפּ֔וֹ וְאֵ֥שׁ מִפִּ֖יו תֹּאכֵ֑ל גֶּחָלִ֖ים בָּעֲר֥וּ מִמֶּֽנּוּ

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, Fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 22:9 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀναβαίνω καπνός ἐν ὁ ὀργή αὐτός καί πῦρ ἐκ στόμα αὐτός καταἐσθίω ἄνθραξ ἐκκαίω ἀπό αὐτός

There went up a smoke in his wrath, and fire out of his mouth devours: coals were kindled at it.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

סְלִיק זְדוֹנֵי דְפַרְעֹה רַשִׁיעָא כִּתְנָנָא קֳדָמוֹהִי בְּכֵן שְׁלַח רוּגְזֵיהּ כְּאָשָׁא בָעֲרָא דְמִן קֳדָמוֹהִי מְשֵׁיצָאָה מְזוֹפִיתֵיהּ כְּגוּמְרִין דְנוּר דָלְקָא מֵימְרֵיהּ:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 2 Samuel 22:9 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Lightning and thundering.

That is, clouds, and vapors.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

9. Smoke arose in his nostril,

and fire from his mouth did devour:

hot coals came burning from him.

The startling boldness of the language will be intelligible if the distinctive character of Hebrew symbolism is borne in mind. It is no “gross anthropomorphism,” for the Psalmist did not intend that the mind’s eye should clothe his figure in a concrete form. His aim is vividly to express the manifestation of the wrath of God, and he does so in figures which are intended to remain as purely mental conceptions, not to be realised as though God appeared in any visible shape. See some excellent remarks in Archbishop Trench’s Comm. on the Epistles to the Seven Churches, p. 43.

a smoke] The outward sign of the pent-up fires of wrath. So anger is said to smoke (Psa_74:1; Psa_80:4 marg.). This bold figure is suggested by the panting and snorting of an angry animal. Cp. Job_41:20; in illustration of which Mr Cox quotes from Bertram’s Travels in Carolina: “I perceived a crocodile rush from a small lake … Thick smoke came with a thundering noise from his nostrils.” Martial speaks of fumantem nasum ursi “the smoking nostril of an angry bear” (Epigr. vi. 64. 28).

fire] Compare again Job’s description of Leviathan (Job_41:19-21). Fire is the constant emblem of the consuming wrath of God. See Deu_32:22; Psa_97:3; Heb_12:29.

coals] The fiery messengers of vengeance. Cp. Psa_140:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them. See Gill on Psa 18:14.

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2 Samuel 22:16

sa2 22:16

sa2 22:16

sa2 22:16And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. See Gill on Psa 18:15.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

9. Smoke through his nostrils — Expressive of the violent snortings, or bursts of wrath, as of the enraged war-horse.

Hot coals glowed — Flamed out in glowing brightness from Him as he sped on his path of vengeance. Compare 2Sa_22:13.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

Smoke rose from His Nostrils. Such is the manner of an angry person, smoke comes out of his nostrils and so [we find], "Smoke has risen from My nostrils." This is always the meaning of the words "Anger of the nose," the nose flares and lets out air.

Fire from His Mouth consumed [the wicked]. Through the decree utterred from His Mouth fire [came forth] and consumed the wicked.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Samuel, in the Historical, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is gechel (“coal”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “coal” (gechel) shape what this verse is saying?
Leviticus 16:12 shares the word «coal» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «עָלָ֤ה» is Qal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Geneva Bible (1599) and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 16 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.