(usually]עָשָׁ , ashan, καπνός; but in Genesis 19:28; Psalms 119:83, the stronger word קַיטוֹר, kitor, is used, like τύφομαι, Matthew 12:20). On the expression "pillars of smoke" (Joel 2:30-31; Acts 2:19-20) Thomson remarks (Land and Book, 2, 311) that they "are probably those columns of sand and dust raised high in the air by local whirlwinds, which often accompany the sirocco. On the great desert of the Hauran I have seen a score of them moving with great rapidity over the plain." (See WHIRLWIND).