Psalms 106:18

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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תְּלַהֵ֥ט

lâhaṭ

H3857

“to burn”

Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular

Appears 11× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Deuteronomy 32:22

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1081

to burn, blaze, scorch, kindle, blaze up, flame - (Qal) blazing (participle) - (Piel) to scorch, burn, blaze

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 →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is תְּלַהֵ֥ט to burn H3857 — appearing just 11 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

תְּלַהֵ֥ט to burn H3857 occurs in 11 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns
1 adjective

Verb forms

וַתִּבְעַר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
תְּלַהֵ֥ט Piel · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 15 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

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 6 Hebrew tokens and 10 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 Psalms 106:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 16:35–40 Fire came forth from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
Hebrews 12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Numbers 16:46 Moses said to Aaron, Take your censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from Yahweh; the plague is begun.

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.

You’re reading Greek Psalm 105 (Hebrew Psalm 106). The Septuagint counts the superscription, so verse numbers can differ from the Hebrew — chapter-level alignment, not verse-by-verse. Numbering follows Rahlfs.

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

Hebrew Psalms 106:18 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַתִּבְעַר אֵ֥שׁ בַּעֲדָתָ֑ם לֶ֝הָבָ֗ה תְּלַהֵ֥ט רְשָׁעִֽים

A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Greek Psalm 105:18 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐκκαίω πῦρ ἐν ὁ συναγωγή αὐτός φλόξ καταφλέγω ἁμαρτωλός

And a fire was kindled in their congregation, and a flame burnt up the sinners.

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 →

Commentary

Notes on Psalms 106:18 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 →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Psa 106:18 And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

Ver. 18. And a fire was kindled in their company] It is both a just presage and desert of ruin not to be warned. Let seditious persons and schismatics take heed; for even our God also is a consuming fire, Heb 12:29.

The flame burnt up the wicked] And among the rest Korah, as some conceive. Dathan and Abiram are stigmatized for their stubbornness, Num 26:9, as was afterwards Ahaz, 2Ch 28:22, and before them all Cain, Gen 4:15, and Lamech, Gen 4:24.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. A. Alexander on Psalms

Joseph Addison Alexander

18. (Psa 106:18) And a fire devours their company, a flame consumes (those) wicked (men). This relates to the destruction of Korah himself and his Levitical followers. See Num 16:35; Num 26:10.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

18. “A fire came out from Jehovah, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense” (Num_16:35). The rebels are called “these wicked men” in Num_16:26.

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 a fire was kindled in their company,.... This seems to be the company of Korah, or however a part of it, the two hundred and fifty men that had censers, and so were of the Levitical race, as Korah was; this fire came from the Lord out of heaven.

The flame burned up the wicked; the two hundred and fifty men with censers, Num 16:35, this was an emblem of that fire which shall consume those that hurt the witnesses; or of that vengeance of eternal fire which wicked men will suffer for ever.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

In their company; in their associates or confederates, those wicked men, as he calls them in the next clause, to wit, Korah and his company, who were consumed by a fire from the Lord, Num 16:35, compared with Psa 106:1,2,16-19.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Treasury of David

Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 18. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. The Levites who were with Korah perished by fire, which was a most fitting death for those who intruded into the priesthood, and so offered strange fire. God has more than one arrow in his quiver, the fire can consume those whom the earthquake spares. These terrible things in righteousness are mentioned here to show the obstinacy of the people in continuing to rebel against the Lord. Terrors were as much lost upon them as mercies had been; they could neither be drawn nor driven.

Psalms 106:19*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And a fire was kindled in their company. (see Num_16:35, 40 26:10) The flame burned up the wicked. Korah and his "company" were more "wicked" than Dathan, Abiram, and their followers, since they had received a favour from God which ought to have satisfied them, (Num_16:9, Num_16:10) and since they ought to have been better instructed in the Law than ordinary Israelites. Hence Korah alone is mentioned in Jud_1:11.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

And fire burned (Num. 16:35) “and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who burnt the incense. “

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.

Psalms, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is lâhaṭ (“to burn”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word lâhaṭ carries the sense “to burn.” How does it shape the verse?
Deuteronomy 32:22 shares the word «to burn» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וַתִּבְעַר» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and J. A. Alexander on Psalms read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.