אֵשׁ
esh
fire
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# אֵשׁ (esh): Fire in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *esh* denotes fire and appears 378 times throughout the biblical text, making it a frequently referenced concept. The word's basic referent is the physical phenomenon of fire—the visible, consumable flame that produces heat and light. This straightforward denotation establishes fire as a concrete reality that biblical authors regularly invoked when composing their texts. The high frequency of *esh* across the biblical corpus suggests that fire held considerable significance in ancient Israelite life and thought. Whether describing literal fires, divine phenomena, or metaphorical concepts, the word's recurrence indicates that authors drew on fire imagery to communicate important ideas to their audiences. The 378 occurrences distributed throughout various biblical books and contexts indicate that fire functioned as a meaningful reference point across different genres and periods of biblical literature, from narrative accounts to poetic passages. Without additional contextual data from the lexicon entry itself, the precise theological or metaphorical applications of *esh* cannot be determined from the information provided. However, the word's prevalence clearly indicates that understanding how ancient biblical writers employed fire imagery is essential to comprehending their wider communication and worldview.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
378 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Moreover he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:6He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.
2 Chronicles 35:13They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.
2 Chronicles 36:19They burned God’s house, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels.
Nehemiah 1:3They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
Nehemiah 2:3I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
Nehemiah 2:13I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate, and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire.
Nehemiah 2:17Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let’s build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced.”
Nehemiah 9:12Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.
Nehemiah 9:19yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.
Job 1:16While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Job 15:34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
Job 18:5“Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out. The spark of his fire won’t shine.
Job 20:26All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
Job 22:20saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’
Job 28:5As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
Job 31:12for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.
Job 41:19Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.
Psalms 78:63Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.
Psalms 11:6On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
Exodus 24:17The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
Psalms 18:8Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.
Psalms 18:12At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.
Psalms 18:13Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.
Psalms 21:9You 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.
Psalms 21:9You 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.
Psalms 29:7Yahweh’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning.
Psalms 39:3My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:
Psalms 46:9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
Psalms 50:3Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
Psalms 66:12You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
Psalms 68:2As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Psalms 74:7They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.
Psalms 78:14In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
Psalms 78:21Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel,
Psalms 79:5How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
Psalms 80:16It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
Psalms 83:14As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
Leviticus 8:17But the bull, and its skin, and its meat, and its dung, he burned with fire outside the camp, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Psalms 89:46How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?
Psalms 97:3A fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries on every side.
Psalms 104:4He makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire.
Psalms 105:32He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land.
Psalms 105:39He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night.
Psalms 106:18A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked.
Psalms 118:12They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In Yahweh’s name I cut them off.
Psalms 140:10Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.
Psalms 148:8lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
Proverbs 6:27Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?
Proverbs 16:27A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.