Hebrew word · H3857

לָהַט

lohet

to kindle

In the form used here: to set ablaze, to burn up, to scorch. It is related to lahav ('flame, blade').

Appears 11 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 25, 2026

What it means

1) to burn, blaze, scorch, kindle, blaze up, flame

1a) (Qal) blazing (participle)

1b)(Piel) to scorch, burn, blaze

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

Range of meaning: In the form used here: to set ablaze, to burn up, to scorch. It is related to lahav ('flame, blade').
Against the English: KJV, WEB and NIV make 'the day' the subject ('the day that cometh shall burn them up'). BSB recasts it as 'I will set them ablaze', changing the subject to God.
Used elsewhere in the period: Deut 32:22 ('a fire kindled… it sets on fire the foundations of the mountains'); Ps 83:14 ('as flame sets the mountains ablaze'); Ps 104:4; Isa 42:25; Joel 1:19; 2:3.

Range of meaning: Main meaning: to blaze, flame, set ablaze. The related noun lahat means 'flame' (Gen 3:24, 'the flame of the sword'). Some lexicons (HALOT among them) also list a possible second root meaning 'to devour, swallow greedily', proposed from an Arabic word. This is put forward mainly for this verse.
Against the English: KJV and WEB: 'set on fire' (passive, though the Hebrew is active). YLT: 'flames'. ESV: 'fiery beasts'. NASB: 'those who breathe forth fire'. BSB and NIV: 'ravenous beasts'. NRSV and NLT: lions that 'greedily devour human prey'. 'Beasts' and 'lions' are added by the translators. The Hebrew has only the participle.
Used elsewhere in the period: Fire sense: Ps 104:4 ('flaming fire'); Ps 83:14 and 106:18 (flame burning up the wicked); Deut 32:22; Joel 1:19; 2:3; Mal 4:1 (Heb 3:19); Job 41:21 (Heb 41:13), where Leviathan's breath 'kindles coals'. That passage is probably behind NASB's 'breathe fire'. The Septuagint reads 'troubled', taking the word as inner agitation.

Range of meaning: In the intensive form (piʿel), 'to set ablaze, scorch, kindle into flame'. Related noun lahaṭ, 'flame', as in the 'flame of the whirling sword' guarding Eden (Gen 3:24).
Against the English: KJV, ESV and NASB have 'burns up', BSB and NIV 'consumes'. Both phrases suggest the end result, total destruction. The Hebrew verb is about the blazing itself: flame catching and scorching. Hebrew has a different verb for 'devour/consume' (ʾākal, lit. 'eat'), and Ps 50:3 uses that one. Here the psalmist chose the flame-word.
How it drifted: 'Consume' is a fair idiomatic choice, since other uses of the verb show it can be lethal. It still moves the picture from flame spreading toward an outcome. This is a slight change of emphasis, not an error.
Used elsewhere in the period: Deut 32:22 ('a fire is kindled in my anger… it sets ablaze the foundations of the mountains'). Ps 83:15 (Eng. 14), 'as flame sets mountains ablaze'. Ps 106:18, 'flame set the wicked ablaze' (Korah's company). Joel 2:3, 'before it fire devours, and behind it flame blazes'. Mal 3:19 (Eng. 4:1), 'the coming day will set them ablaze'. Job 41:13 (Eng. 21), Leviathan's breath 'kindles coals'.

Deuteronomy · 1

Deuteronomy 32:22 וַתְּלַהֵ֖ט and it has set ablaze

For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

Here: A strong form of the verb, 'and it set blazing'. The flames lick at and engulf what they touch.

Job · 1

Job 41:21 תְּלַהֵ֑ט it kindles

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

Psalms · 5

Psalm 57:4 לֹ֫הֲטִ֥ים [those that] devour

My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts—with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.

Here: An active participle: 'ones who blaze'. The root normally means to flame up or set on fire, as in Ps 104:4, 'flaming fire'. Some scholars take it from a second root meaning 'to devour greedily'. Either way, the enemies are hot, consuming and dangerous.
Psalm 83:14 תְּלַהֵ֥ט [which] it sets ablaze

As fire consumes a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
Psalm 97:3 וּתְלַהֵ֖ט and it may burn up

Fire goes before Him and consumes His foes on every side.

Here: "And it sets ablaze." This is the intensive form of a verb for blazing flame. The 'and' is the plain one, not the narrative 'and then' of past-tense storytelling, so it keeps the same general or ongoing time as the first verb.
Psalm 104:4 לֹהֵֽט׃ flaming

He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.

Here: 'Blazing', 'licking flame': fire that flares and devours. The same root describes the fire that goes before God and burns up his foes (Ps 97:3) and the 'flame of the sword' beside the cherubim at Eden (Gen 3:24). The picture is fire that is alive and moving.
Psalm 106:18 תְּלַהֵ֥ט it burned up

Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 42:25 וַתְּלַהֲטֵ֤הוּ and it set ablaze it

So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

Here: An intensive verb meaning to kindle or set on fire, and the 'it' is feminine. Its subject is the wrath (ḥemah) or the battle (milḥamah), both feminine nouns. The picture is a burning city.

Joel · 2

Joel 1:19 לִהֲטָ֖ה it has set ablaze

To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.
Joel 2:3 תְּלַהֵ֣ט it sets ablaze

Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland—surely nothing will escape them.

Here: An intensive verb form meaning 'blazes, sets aflame'. The imperfect ('keeps blazing') matched with the perfect 'has devoured' makes a vivid, ongoing scene. The flame keeps burning after the army has passed.

Malachi · 1

Malachi 4:1 וְלִהַ֨ט and it will set ablaze

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”

Here: 'And it will set ablaze.' This verb form makes something burn, and it points to the future. The grammatical subject is 'the day that is coming' (named a few words later), not 'I'.

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