Psalms Chapter 18 verse 12 Holy Bible
At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, Hailstones and coals of fire.
read chapter 18 in ASV
Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and fire.
read chapter 18 in BBE
From the brightness before him his thick clouds passed forth: hail and coals of fire.
read chapter 18 in DARBY
At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
read chapter 18 in KJV
He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion around him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
read chapter 18 in WBT
At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, Hailstones and coals of fire.
read chapter 18 in WEB
From the brightness over-against Him His thick clouds have passed on, Hail and coals of fire.
read chapter 18 in YLT
Psalms 18 : 12 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed. The "brightness" intended is probably that of lightning. The "thick clouds" are riven and parted asunder for the lightning to burst forth. Then come, almost simultaneously, hail stones and coals of fire; i.e., hail like that which fell in Egypt before the Exodus (Exodus 9:22-34), when "there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail" (ver. 24) - a fire which "ran along upon the ground," or some very unusual electrical phenomenon (see the comment on Exodus in the ' Homiletic Commentary,' p. 208).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) At the brightness.--This is obscure. Literally, From the brightness before him his clouds passed through (Heb., avar--LXX., ???????; Vulg., transierunt) hail and fiery coals. In Samuel it is "From the brightness before him flamed fiery coals," which is the description we should expect, and, doubtless, gives the sense we are to attach to our text. Through the dark curtain of clouds the lightnings dart like emanations from the Divine brightness which they hide. The difficulty arises from the position of avaiv, "his clouds," which looks like a subject rather than an object to avr-. It has been conjectured, from comparison with Samuel, that the word has been inserted through error, from its likeness to the verb. If retained it must be rendered as object, "Out of the brightness of his presence there passed through his clouds hail and fiery coals." And some obscurity of language is pardonable in a description of phenomena so overpowering and bewildering as "a tempest dropping fire." A modern poet touches this feeling:--"Then fire was sky, and sky fire,And both one brief ecstasy,Then ashes."--R. BROWNING, Easter Day.In the Authorised Version the thought is of a sudden clearing of the heavens, which is not true to nature, and the clause "hailstones and coals of fire" comes in as an exclamation, as in the next verse. But there it is probably an erroneous repetition, being wanting in Sam. and in the LXX. version of the psalm. Notice how the feeling of the terrible fury of the storm is heightened by the mention of "hail," so rare in Palestine.
