Smoke ascended from ¹  his nose; ²  fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ³  he hurled down fiery coals. ⁴ 

biblegateway Psa 18:8

Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it.

Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; coals were set ablaze by it.

Smoke went up from his nostrils, and a raging fire came out of his mouth. Glowing coals flared up from it.

biblegateway Psa 18:8

Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.

bibleoremus Psa 18:8

Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.

Smoke went up from his nostrils, devouring fire from his mouth, glowing coals and searing heat.

biblegateway Psa 18:8

Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it.

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

biblegateway Psa 18:8

Smoke ascended from ¹  his nose; ²  fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ³  he hurled down fiery coals. ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “within”; or “[from] within.” For a discussion of the use of the preposition -בְּ (bÿ) here, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 163-64.

² tn Or “in his anger.” The noun אַף (’af) can carry the abstract meaning “anger,” but the parallelism (note “from his mouth”) suggests the more concrete meaning “nose” here. See also v. 15, “the powerful breath of your nose.”

³ tn Heb “fire from his mouth devoured.” In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the two perfect verbal forms in the verse.

³ sn Fire devoured as it came from his mouth. For other examples of fire as a weapon in OT theophanies and ancient Near Eastern portrayals of warring gods and kings, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 165-67.

⁴ tn Heb “coals burned from him.” Perhaps the psalmist pictures God’s fiery breath igniting coals (cf. Job 41:21), which he then hurls as weapons (cf. Ps 120:4).