Hebrew word · H7529
רֶצֶף
retzafim
coal
A glowing or heated stone, or a hot coal. It is related to ritspah, the 'live coal' (or glowing stone) that the seraph took from the altar with tongs in Isa 6:6. In Arabic a related word means stones heated for cooking.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
hot stone, glowing stone or coal, flame, firebolt, spark
Another spelling of rits.pah (רִצְפָּה "glowing stone" H7531B)
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 1 Kings 19:6
- Range of meaning
A glowing or heated stone, or a hot coal. It is related to ritspah, the 'live coal' (or glowing stone) that the seraph took from the altar with tongs in Isa 6:6. In Arabic a related word means stones heated for cooking.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB, BSB and NIV say 'coals'. ESV, NASB and NLT say 'hot stones'. YLT says 'burning stones'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In the Hebrew Bible it appears only here (with ritspah in Isa 6:6 as a close relative). Baking flatbread on stones heated in a fire is well known from the ancient Near East, and Bedouin still do it.
Where it appears
1 Kings · 1
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1 Kings 19:6 רְצָפִ֖ים hot coals
And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.
Here: Literally 'a loaf of hot stones', meaning a loaf baked on stones heated in a fire (or on embers). So the bread is still warm: it has just been made.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.