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NASB | Romans 12:20 "BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 12:20 "BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR BY DOING THIS YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD." [Prov 25:21, 22] |
Bible Question: Roamsn 12:21 says to"heap burning coals on their heads" What exactly does this mean. I've heard that this is a good thing because "coals" or some type of heat was needed for cooking, etc. |
Bible Answer: Greetings CCT! Paul is quoting from Prov. 25:21-22. Here is what the Bible Knowledge Commentary says about Prov. 25:21-22: ************ Kindness to one’s enemy-giving him food and water-is like heaping burning coals on his head (quoted by Paul in Rom. 12:20). Sometimes a person’s fire went out and he needed to borrow some live coals to restart his fire. Giving a person coals in a pan to carry home “on his head” was a neighborly, kind act; it made friends, not enemies. Also the kindness shown in giving someone food and water makes him ashamed of being an enemy, and brings God’s blessing on the benefactor. Compassion, not revenge, should characterize believers (cf. Prov. 24:29). Alternately, light on this passage may come from an Egyptian expiation ritual, in which a person guilty of some wrongdoing would carry a pan of burning coals on his head as a sign of his repentance. Thus treating one’s enemy kindly may cause him to repent. *********** I have heard some argue that the phrase means that being nice to an enemy heaps judgment upon him. I would lean more toward the first view. Whatever the phrase means, we have an obligation to be kind even to our enemies. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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Morant61 |