Psalms 139:11
Burning coals shall fall upon them; thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
Open Psalms 139:11 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cadent super eos carbones ; in ignem dejicies eos : in miseriis non subsistent.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- πεσοῦνται ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἄνθρακες πυρὸς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ καταβαλεῖς αὐτούς. ἐν ταλαιπωρίαις οὐ μὴ ὑποστῶσιν·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 140:11
- ימיטו עֲלֵיהֶ֗ם גֶּֽחָ֫לִ֥ים בָּאֵ֥שׁ יַפִּלֵ֑ם בְּ֝מַהֲמֹר֗וֹת בַּֽל יָקֽוּמוּ
Haydock's commentary
Fire of hell, (Worthington; Chaldean) as well as temporal afflictions, from lightning, &c., Psalm xvii. 9. (Haydock)
Some have ridiculed the belief of hell. But the universality of this opinion is a strong proof of it, as it is also confirmed by revelation. (Berthier)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXL
13. “Coals of fire shall fall upon them upon earth, and Thou shalt cast them down” ( ver. 10 ). What is, “upon earth”? Here, even in this life, here “coals of fire shall fall upon them.” What are, “coals of fire”? We know these coals. Are they different from those of which we are about to speak? For these I see avail for punishment, those that I am about to speak of, for salvation. For we have spoken of certain coals, when man was seeking aid against a treacherous tongue.…The examples of the “coals” are added to the wound of the arrows (for I need not fear to say “the wound,” when the Spouse herself saith, “I am wounded with love”), and then the hay is consumed, and so they are called “devouring coals.” The hay is devoured, but the gold is purified, and the man exchanges death for life, and begins to be himself too a burning coal; such a coal as was the Apostle, “who before was a blasphe …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X, Chapter XXI. Of the fact that devils struggle with men not without effort on their part
But our belief is that they undertake this struggle not without effort on their part. For in their conflict they themselves have some sort of anxiety and depression, and especially when they are matched with stronger rivals, i.e., saints and perfect men. Otherwise no contest or struggle, but only a simple deception of men, and one free from anxiety on their part would be assigned to them. And how then would the Apostle’s words stand, where he says: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places;” and this too: “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air;” and again: “I have fought a good fight”? For where it is spoken of as a fight, and conflict, and battle, there must be effort and exertion and anxiety on both sides, and equally there must either be in store for …