Hebrews 12 · Verse 29

Hebrews 12:29

For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:29, King James Version

Hebrews 12:29 in other translations

BSB“For our God is a consuming fire.”
WEBfor our God is a consuming fire.
ASVfor our God is a consuming fire.
YLTfor also our God is a consuming fire.
DARBYFor also our God is a consuming fire.
BBEFor our God is an all-burning fire.
WebsterFor our God is a consuming fire.

What does Hebrews 12:29 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
29. Greek, "For even": "for also"; introducing an additional solemn incentive to diligence. Quoted from De 4:24. our God--in whom we hope, is also to be feared. He is love (1Jo 4:8, 16); yet there is another side of His character; God has wrath against sin (He 10:27, 31).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 29. For our God is a consuming fire. This is a further reason why we should serve God with profound reverence and unwavering fidelity. The quotation is made from De 4:24: "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." The object of the apostle here seems to be, to show that there was the same reason for fearing the displeasure of God under the new dispensation which there was under the old. It was the same God who was served. There had been no change in his attributes, or in the principles of his government. He was.no more the friend of sin now than he was then; and the same perfections of his nature which would then lead him to punish transgression would also lead him to do it now. His anger was really as terrible, and as much to be dreaded, as it was at Mount Sinai; and the destruction which he would inflict on his foes would be as terrible now as it was then. The fearfulness with which he would come forth to destroy the wicked might be compared to a fire that consumed all before it. Mk 9:44-46. The image here is a most fearful one, and is in accordance with all the representations of God in the Bible, and with all that we see in the Divine dealings with wicked men, that punishment, as inflicted by him, is awful and overwhelming. So it was on the old world; on the cities of the plain; on the hosts of Sennacherib; and on Jerusalem;--and so it has been in the calamities of pestilence, war, flood, and famine, with which God has visited guilty men. By all these tender and solemn considerations, therefore, the apostle urges the friends of God to perseverance and fidelity in his service. His goodness and mercy; the gift of a Saviour to redeem us; the revelation of a glorious world; the assurance that all may soon be united in fellowship with the angels and the redeemed; the certainty that the kingdom of the Saviour is established on a permanent basis, and the apprehension of the dreadful wrath of God against the guilty, all should lead us to persevere in the duties of our Christian calling, and to avoid those things which would jeopard the eternal interests of our souls.

(a) "our God" De 4:24

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 29 For our God is a consuming fire - The apostle quotes Deu 4:24, and by doing so he teaches us this great truth, that sin under the Gospel is as abominable in God's sight as it was under the law; and that the man who does not labor to serve God with the principle and in the way already prescribed, will find that fire to consume him which would otherwise have consumed his sin.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hebrews 12:18-29

Mount Sinai, on which the Jewish church state was formed, was a mount such as might be touched, though forbidden to be so, a place that could be felt; so the Mosaic dispensation was much in outward and earthly things. The gospel state is kind and condescending, suited to our weak frame. Under the gospel all may come with boldness to God's presence. But the most holy must despair, if judged by the holy law given from…

Read the full comment on Hebrews 12:18-29 →

Hebrews 12:29 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

καὶkaiAlsoG2532
γὰρgarforG1063
ὁhotheG3588
θεὸςtheosGodG2316
ἡμῶνhēmōnof usG3165
πῦρpur[is] a fireG4442
καταναλίσκον.¶katanaliskonconsuming.G2654

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Hebrews 12:29

  • Deuteronomy 4:24

    For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

  • Deuteronomy 9:3

    Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.

  • Isaiah 66:15

    For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

  • 2 Thessalonians 1:8

    In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

  • Hebrews 10:27

    But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

  • Exodus 24:17

    And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

  • Daniel 7:9

    I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

  • Psalms 97:3

    A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

  • Numbers 16:35

    And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

  • Numbers 11:1

    And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.

  • Psalms 50:3

    Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
10:27; Ex 24:17; Nu 11:1; 16:35; De 4:24; 9:3; Ps 50:3; 97:3
Isa 66:15; Da 7:9; 2Th 1:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Hebrews 12:28

    Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

  • Hebrews 12:29

    For our God is a consuming fire.

Read all of Hebrews 12

Hebrews 12:29 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque nuestro Dios es fuego consumidor.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Car aussi notre Dieu est un feu consumant.
German
Elberfelder 1871		"Denn auch unser Gott ist ein verzehrendes Feuer."
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Etenim Deus noster ignis consumens est.