Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.
Parallel Translations
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Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.
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Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
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(140-11) Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Psalms 140:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 11:6 On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
- Psalms 21:9 You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
- Revelation 20:15 If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
- Revelation 21:8 But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
- Genesis 19:24 Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.
- Exodus 9:23-24 Moses stretched out his rod toward the heavens, and Yahweh sent thunder and hail; and lightning flashed down to the earth. Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
- Psalms 18:13-14 Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.
- Psalms 55:23 But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
- Psalms 120:4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
- Proverbs 28:10 Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he will fall into his own trap; but the blameless will inherit good.
- Proverbs 28:17 A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.
- Matthew 13:42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 13:50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
- Revelation 16:8-9 The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire. People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and give him glory.
- Daniel 3:20-25 He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other clothes, and were cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste. He spoke and said to his counselors, “Didn’t we cast three men bound into the middle of the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” He answered, “Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are unharmed. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To wit, God: for David saw that they were…
To wit, God: for David saw that they were reprobate, and that there was no hope of repentance in them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 140:10 Let burning coals fall upon them: let…
Psa 140:10 Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
Ver. 10. Let burning coals fall upon them] Conflagrent ut corruant. Haec sunt non tam vota quam vaticinia.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Burning coals; Divine vengeance, which is compared to coals…
Burning coals; Divine vengeance, which is compared to coals of fire, as Psa 18:12, and elsewhere.
Rise not up again; either to my danger, or their own comfort.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Let burning coals fall upon them,.... From heaven, as…
Let burning coals fall upon them,.... From heaven, as the Targum, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, by way of explanation; alluding to the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from thence: and may design both the terrible judgments of God in this life, and everlasting burnings in hell; so Jarchi interprets it of the coals of hell; see Psa 11:6;
let them be cast into the fire; into the fire of divine wrath, and have severe punishment inflicted on them in this world; and into the fire of hell hereafter, as the Targum, which is unquenchable and everlasting; and into which all wicked men, carnal professors, the followers of antichrist, the devil and his angels, will be cast: of the phrase of casting into hell, see Mat 5:29;
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into deep pits, that they rise not up again; meaning either the grave, the pit of corruption; from whence the wicked will not rise to eternal life, as the Targum adds, for though they will rise again, it will be to everlasting shame and damnation, Dan 12:2; or else the pit of hell, the bottomless pit, from whence there will be no deliverance; where they must lie till the uttermost farthing is paid, and that will be for ever. Arama refers this to Korah, who was burnt and swallowed up, and rose not again in Israel.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Coals - Divine vengeance, which is compared to coals…
Coals - Divine vengeance, which is compared to coals of fire.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Let burning coals] The Chaldee considers this…
Verse 10. Let burning coals] The Chaldee considers this as spoken against Ahithophel, who was head of a conspiracy against David; and translates this verse thus: "Let coals from heaven fall upon them, precipitate them into the fire of hell, and into miry pits, from which they shall not have a resurrection to eternal life." This is a proof that the Jews did believe in a resurrection of the body, and an eternal life for that body, in the case of the righteous.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Let burning coals fall upon them - Let them…
Let burning coals fall upon them - Let them be punished, “as if” burning coals were poured upon them. See Psa 11:6, note; Psa 18:12-13, notes; Psa 120:4, note.
Let them be cast into the fire - Punished as if they were cast into the fire and consumed.
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Into deep pits, that they rise not up again - That they may utterly perish. This was one mode of punishing, by casting a man into a deep pit from which he could not escape, and leaving him to die, Gen 37:20, Gen 37:24; Psa 9:15; Psa 35:7; Jer 41:7.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Let burning coals fall upon them—The verb is…
10. Let burning coals fall upon them—The verb is declarative: “He shall cause coals of fire to fall,” etc., “coals” being taken figuratively, for great distress, as Pro_25:22, “Thou shalt heap coals of fire,” etc., meaning, “Thou wilt overwhelm him with shame and remorse for his enmity toward thee.”—Gesenius. Whether human instruments were employed, or only direct divine judgments, as Psa_11:6, (comp. Gen_19:24,) the result would be the same.
Deep pits—Many interpreters, ancient and modern, Jewish and Christian, understand water pits. R. Parchi, as quoted by Gesenius, understands “rivers flowing with strength and impetuosity.” The word indicates whirlpools or rapids—swift and noisy waters. The Septuagint and Vulgate have, “calamities.” The figurative sense of sudden and overwhelming calamities, such as they had plotted for the psalmist, must be admitted.
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That they rise not up again— That they may never recover their stations of power and wealth, to outrage justice and derange society.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. Let the fate of Sodom overtake these defiant…
10. Let the fate of Sodom overtake these defiant offenders! Possibly we should read, comparing Psa_11:6, May he rain hot coals upon them! may he cast them into the fire!
deep pits] A word of uncertain meaning, found here only. Some render whirlpools: cp. R.V. marg. floods. If they try to escape the fiery storm, may they be swept away by torrents!
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that they rise not up again] Let their fall be final and irremediable (Psa_36:12), in contrast to that of the righteous, who falls to rise again (Pro_24:16).
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) In this verse too there is a grammatical…
(10) In this verse too there is a grammatical difficulty, which the margin, “Let there fall on them,” instead of “Let them bring upon them,” does not remove, since the subject of the next verb is third person singular. The first verb is usually taken impersonally, as by the LXX., which version is actually to be followed in rendering coals of fire (literally, coals accompanied with fire, or, coals as fire), and we get the somewhat awkward, but intelligible—
“Let them bring upon them coals of fire;
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Let him cast them into pits that they rise not again.’
But a very slight change gives a plain grammatical sentence with the subject carried on from the last verse:
“Let it (mischief) bring even upon themselves coals of fire;
Let it cast them into pits, so that they rise no more.”
(Burgess.)
The word “pits” is peculiar to the passage. Gesenius, deriving from a root meaning “to boil up,” renders, “whirlpools,” which, as in Psa_66:12, combines “water” with “fire,” as joint emblems of perils that cannot be escaped. But Symmachus, Theodotion, and Jerome render “ditches,” which is supported by a Rabbinical quotation, given by Delitzsch: “first of all they burned them in pits; when the flesh was consumed they collected the bones, and burned them in coffins.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Let burning coals fall upon them, or, "burning coals…
Let burning coals fall upon them, or, "burning coals shall be thrown upon them." Let them be cast (or, "they shall be cast") into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again. The clauses are declaratory rather than optative. The psalmist sees the wrath of God poured out upon his enemies, who are at the same time God"s enemies they are cast into the fire prepared to receive the wicked and plunged into deep pits whence they find it impossible to extricate themselves.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 10. Let burning coals fall upon them. Then…
Ver. 10. Let burning coals fall upon them. Then will they know that the scattering of the firebrands is not the sport they thought it to be. When hailstones and coals of fire descend upon them, how will they escape? Even the skies above the wicked are able to deal out vengeance upon them. Let them be cast into the fire. They have kindled the flames of strife, and it is fair that they should be cast therein. They have heated the furnace of slander seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated, and they shall be devoured therein. Who would have pitied Nebuchadnezzar if he had been thrown into his own burning fiery furnace? Into deep pits, that they rise not up again. They made those ditches or fosses for the godly, and it is meet that they should themselves fall into them and never escape. When a righteous man falls he rises again; but when the wicked man goes down "he falls like Lucifer, never to hope again." The Psalmist in this passage graphically depicts the Sodom of the wicked persecutor: fire falls upon him from heaven; the city blazes, and he is cast into the conflagration; the vale of Siddim is full of slime pits, and into these he is hurried. Extraordinary judgment overtakes the extraordinary offender: above, around, beneath, all is destruction. He would have consumed the righteous, and now he is consumed himself. So shall it be: so let it be.
Ver. 10. Let burning coals fall upon them, etc. The Psalmist seems here to allude to the destruction of the Sodomites. In these imprecations he considered his enemies as the enemies of God, rather than as his own; and lie thus cursed them, as knowing, in the quality of a prophet, that God himself had cursed them: and therefore these sorts of imprecations do not authorize other persons to curse their enemies. Thomas Fenton.
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Ver. 10. Let burning coals full upon them, etc. An imprecation which (with the similar previous one, Ps 9:6, etc.) is a prophecy; and one which, while it has had no fulfilment in the case of David's enemies, or any persecutors of the church in times past, brings again vividly before the mind the fiery judgment of the Lord's coming, and the awful sentence already pronounced against "the beast and false prophet", the leaders of the confederation of the kings of the earth and their armies, then "gathered together to make war against him" "these were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone": Re 19:19-20. So before, Ps 55:15 63:9. William De Burgh.
Psalms 140:11*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 140:10 The psalmist wants fire to descend on his…
140:10 The psalmist wants fire to descend on his enemies, and he wants them thrown into pits so they can never attack again. The language foreshadows the New Testament teaching on hell (Matt 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 18:9; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; Jas 3:6; 2 Pet 2:4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.