Hebrew word · H3851

לַ֫הַב

lahav

flame

Lahav: a flame, also the flashing blade of a sword or spear (Judg 3:22; Nah 3:3; Job 39:23). Esh: fire, often the sign of God's presence and holiness (the burning bush, Sinai, the altar fire). Okhelah: 'eating', the ordinary verb for eating, used of fire that consumes.

Appears 12 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) flame, blade

1a) flame

1b) of flashing point of spear or blade of sword

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 29:6

Range of meaning

Lahav: a flame, also the flashing blade of a sword or spear (Judg 3:22; Nah 3:3; Job 39:23). Esh: fire, often the sign of God's presence and holiness (the burning bush, Sinai, the altar fire). Okhelah: 'eating', the ordinary verb for eating, used of fire that consumes.

Against the English

'Devouring fire' (KJV, WEB, YLT) keeps the picture of eating better than BSB's 'consuming flame'. Both are accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

'Yahweh your God is a devouring fire (esh okhelah)' (Deut 4:24; 9:3). Moses goes into the 'devouring fire' on Sinai (Exod 24:17). Isaiah uses almost the same phrase against Assyria in 30:27–31: 'flame of devouring fire, cloudburst, storm and hailstones… Assyria will be shattered'. Isa 33:14 asks who can live with the 'devouring fire'. Isa 31:9 calls Yahweh the one 'whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem'.

From the study of Isaiah 30:30

Range of meaning

Lahav means flame, and also the flashing blade or point of a weapon (Judges 3:22; Nahum 3:3). Esh okhelah, 'eating fire', is a set expression for the burning presence of God.

Against the English

'Devouring' (KJV, WEB) keeps the picture of eating better than 'consuming' (BSB, YLT), though both are fair.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 4:24 ('Yahweh your God is a devouring fire'); Exodus 24:17 (the glory on Sinai 'like devouring fire'); Isaiah 29:6 and 33:14. The same phrase appears in verse 27 of this chapter, where Yahweh's tongue is 'like a devouring fire'.

From the study of Isaiah 13:8

Range of meaning

Flame (Joel 2:5; Isaiah 29:6; 30:30; 66:15). Also the flashing blade of a weapon (Judges 3:22; Nahum 3:3 'flashing sword'), apparently because the metal gleams.

Against the English

KJV/WEB keep the bare metaphor ('as flames,' 'faces of flame'). ESV/NIV/NASB say 'aflame.' BSB 'flushed with fear' interprets it as reddening from fear. That is a reasonable reading, but it closes off others.

Used elsewhere in the period

The phrase 'faces of flames' occurs only here. Compare Joel 2:6 and Nahum 2:10, where faces in panic show a different change in color (usually understood as turning pale). Isaiah uses the opposite picture: faces burning.

Where it appears

Judges · 4

  1. Judges 3:22 הַלַּ֗הַב הַלַּ֔הַב the blade

    Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied.

  2. Judges 13:20 הַלַּ֜הַב בְּלַ֣הַב the flame, in [the] flame of

    When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.

Job · 2

  1. Job 39:23 לַ֖הַב [the] blade of

    A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance.

  2. Job 41:21 וְ֝לַ֗הַב and a flame

    His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 13:8 לְהָבִ֖ים flames

    Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.

    Here: 'Flames.' The faces look like fire: red and burning, whether from panic, fever, shame, or the glow of the fire around them.

  2. Isaiah 29:6 וְלַ֖הַב and a flame of

    you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

    Here: 'And a flame of.' The word can also mean the flashing blade of a weapon (Judg 3:22), so it suggests flashing, cutting light, possibly lightning. It is bound to the next word: 'flame of fire'.

  3. Isaiah 30:30 וְלַ֖הַב and a flame of

    And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.

    Here: A flame, the flickering tongue of fire. The word can also mean the gleaming blade of a weapon, which suits a warrior's attack.

  4. Isaiah 66:15 בְּלַהֲבֵי־ with flames of

    For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.

    Here: Lahav is a flame or blaze. Elsewhere it can also mean the flashing blade of a weapon (Judg 3:22; Nah 3:3). That suits the next verse, where fire and sword appear side by side.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 2:5 לַ֣הַב a flame of

    With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.

Nahum · 1

  1. Nahum 3:3 וְלַ֤הַב and [the] blade of

    Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over their dead—

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.