Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, July 30th, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

New Life Version

Job 41:21

His breath sets fire to coals. A fire goes out of his mouth.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Leviathan;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Coal;   Leviathan;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Coal;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Bellows;   Breath;   Soul;   Spark;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Leviathan;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Breathing;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Leviathan;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Breath;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Flame;   Forth;   Leviathan;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
His breath sets coals ablaze,and flames pour out of his mouth.
Hebrew Names Version
His breath kindles coals. A flame goes forth from his mouth.
King James Version
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
English Standard Version
His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
New Century Version
Its breath sets coals on fire, and flames come out of its mouth.
New English Translation
Its breath sets coals ablaze and a flame shoots from its mouth.
Amplified Bible
"His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes forth from his mouth.
New American Standard Bible
"His breath sets coals aglow, And a flame goes forth from his mouth.
World English Bible
His breath kindles coals. A flame goes forth from his mouth.
Geneva Bible (1587)
His breath maketh the coales burne: for a flame goeth out of his mouth.
Legacy Standard Bible
Its breath kindles coals,And a flame goes forth from its mouth.
Berean Standard Bible
His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour out of his mouth.
Contemporary English Version
while its blazing breath scorches everything in sight.
Complete Jewish Bible
Clubs count as hay, and he laughs at a quivering javelin.
Darby Translation
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
Easy-to-Read Version
His breath sets coals on fire, and flames shoot from his mouth.
George Lamsa Translation
Out of his nostrils goes smoke, like a flame spreading round the sides of a pot.
Good News Translation
His breath starts fires burning; flames leap out of his mouth.
Lexham English Bible
Its breath kindles charcoal, and a flame comes from its mouth.
Literal Translation
His breath kindles coals and the flame goes out from his mouth.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
His breth maketh the coales burne, the flame goeth out of his mouth.
American Standard Version
His breath kindleth coals, And a flame goeth forth from his mouth.
Bible in Basic English
His breath puts fire to coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Clubs are accounted as stubble; he laugheth at the rattling of the javelin.
King James Version (1611)
His breath kindleth coales, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
His breath maketh the coles burne, and the flambe goeth out of his mouth.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
His lair is formed of sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is an immense quantity of clay.
English Revised Version
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth forth from his mouth.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
His breeth makith colis to brenne, and flawme goith out of his mouth.
Update Bible Version
His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes forth from his mouth.
Webster's Bible Translation
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame issueth from his mouth.
New King James Version
His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth.
New Living Translation
Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth.
New Revised Standard
Its breath kindles coals, and a flame comes out of its mouth.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
His breath, setteth coals ablaze, and, a flame, out of his mouth, proceedeth;
Douay-Rheims Bible
(41-12) His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth.
Revised Standard Version
His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
Young's Literal Translation
His breath setteth coals on fire, And a flame from his mouth goeth forth.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes forth from his mouth.

Contextual Overview

11 Who has given Me everything, that I should pay him back? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. 12 "I will not keep quiet about his legs, or his powerful strength, or the good way he is made. 13 Who can take off his outside clothing? Who can get through his hard skin? 14 Who can open the doors of his mouth? Around his teeth is much fear. 15 His hard covering is his pride. He is shut up as with a lock. 16 One piece of his hard skin is so close to another that no air can come between them. 17 They are joined one to another. They hold on to each other and cannot be separated. 18 His breath gives out light. And his eyes are like those of the first light of day. 19 Burning light goes out of his mouth. Fire comes out. 20 Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning grass.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 18:8, Psalms 18:12, Isaiah 30:33, Habakkuk 3:5

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 22:9 - went Job 39:20 - the glory

Cross-References

Genesis 41:9
Then the head cup-carrier said to Pharaoh, "I remember today what I have done wrong.
Genesis 41:10
Pharaoh was angry with his servants. And he put me and the head bread-maker in prison in the house of the head of the soldiers.
Psalms 37:19
They will not be ashamed in the time of trouble. And in days when there is no food they will have enough.
Isaiah 9:20
They take what is on the right hand but still are hungry. They eat what is in the left hand but are not filled. Each of them eats the flesh of his own children.
Ezekiel 3:3
And He said to me, "Son of man, eat this book that I give you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

His breath kindles coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. Hyperbolical expressions, which the above observations may seem to justify.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His breath kindleth coals - It seems to be a flame, and to set on fire all around it. So Hesiod, “Theog.” i. 319, describing the creation of the Chimera, speaks of it as

πνέουσαν ἀμαισάκετον πῦρ

pneousan amaimaketon pur.

“Breathing unquenchable fire,” So Virgil, “Georg.” ii. 140:

Haec loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem Invertere.

“Bulls breathing fire these furrows ne’er have known.”

Warton

A similar phrase is found in a sublime description of the anger of the Almighty, in Psalms 18:8 :

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,

And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.


 
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