Psalms 11:6

11:6 May the Lord rain down ¹  burning coals ²  and brimstone ³  on the wicked!

A whirlwind is what they deserve! ⁴ 

Psalms 18:8

18:8 Smoke ascended from ⁵  his nose; ⁶ 

fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ⁷ 

he hurled down fiery coals. ⁸ 

Psalms 18:13

18:13 The Lord thundered ⁹  in ¹⁰  the sky;

the sovereign One ¹¹  shouted. ¹² 

Psalms 39:3

39:3 my anxiety intensified. ¹³ 

As I thought about it, I became impatient. ¹⁴ 

Finally I spoke these words: ¹⁵ 

Psalms 50:3

50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; ¹⁶ 

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 68:2

68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. ¹⁸ 

As wax melts before fire,

so the wicked are destroyed before God.

Psalms 78:21

78:21 When ¹⁹  the Lord heard this, he was furious.

A fire broke out against Jacob,

and his anger flared up ²⁰  against Israel,

Psalms 79:5

79:5 How long will this go on, O Lord? ²¹ 

Will you stay angry forever?

How long will your rage ²²  burn like fire?

Psalms 89:46

89:46 How long, O Lord, will this last?

Will you remain hidden forever? ²³ 

Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

Psalms 118:12

118:12 They surrounded me like bees.

But they disappeared as quickly ²⁴  as a fire among thorns. ²⁵ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

Psalms 140:10

140:10 May he rain down ²⁶  fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape. ²⁷ 

[11:6]  ¹ tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the Lord rain down”), not indicative (“The Lord rains down”; see also Job 20:23). The psalmist appeals to God to destroy the wicked, rather than simply stating his confidence that God will do so. In this way the psalmist seeks to activate divine judgment by appealing to God’s just character. For an example of the power of such a curse, see Judg 9:7-57.

[11:6]  ² tc The MT reads “traps, fire, and brimstone,” but the image of God raining traps, or snares, down from the sky is bizarre and does not fit the fire and storm imagery of this verse. The noun פַּחִים (pakhim, “traps, snares”) should be emended to פַּחֲמֵי (pakhamey, “coals of [fire]”). The rare noun פֶּחָם (pekham, “coal”) occurs in Prov 26:21 and Isa 44:12; 54:16.

[11:6]  ³ sn The image of God “raining down” brimstone on the objects of his judgment also appears in Gen 19:24 and Ezek 38:22.

[11:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “[may] a wind of rage [be] the portion of their cup.” The precise meaning of the rare noun זִלְעָפוֹת (zil’afot) is uncertain. It may mean “raging heat” (BDB 273 s.v. זַלְעָפָה) or simply “rage” (HALOT 272 s.v. זַלְעָפָה). If one understands the former sense, then one might translate “hot wind” (cf. NEB, NRSV). The present translation assumes the latter nuance, “a wind of rage” (the genitive is attributive) referring to a “whirlwind” symbolic of destructive judgment. In this mixed metaphor, judgment is also compared to an allotted portion of a beverage poured into one’s drinking cup (see Hab 2:15-16).

[18:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “within”; or “[from] within.” For a discussion of the use of the preposition -בְּ (bÿ) here, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 163-64.

[18:8]  ⁶ tn Or “in his anger.” The noun אַף (’af) can carry the abstract meaning “anger,” but the parallelism (note “from his mouth”) suggests the more concrete meaning “nose” here. See also v. 15, “the powerful breath of your nose.”

[18:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “fire from his mouth devoured.” In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the two perfect verbal forms in the verse.

[18:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “coals burned from him.” Perhaps the psalmist pictures God’s fiery breath igniting coals (cf. Job 41:21), which he then hurls as weapons (cf. Ps 120:4).

[18:13]  ⁹ sn Thunder is a common motif in OT theophanies and in ancient Near Eastern portrayals of the storm god and warring kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 179-83.

[18:13]  ¹⁰ tn 2 Sam 22:14 has “from.”

[18:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[18:13]  ¹² tc The text of Ps 18:13 adds at this point, “hail and coals of fire.” These words are probably accidentally added from v. 12b; they do not appear in 2 Sam 22:14.

[39:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

[39:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[50:3]  ¹⁷ tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”

[50:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

[68:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”

[78:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “therefore.”

[78:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and also anger went up.”

[79:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “How long, O Lord?”

[79:5]  ³⁰ tn Or “jealous anger.”

[89:46]  ³³ tn Heb “How long, O Lord, will hide yourself forever?”

[118:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “were extinguished.”

[118:12]  ³⁸ tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.

[140:10]  ⁴¹ tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.

[140:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.