A bed of burning coals
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
ἀνθρακιά names a charcoal fire or bed of burning coals. The local index records only two occurrences, both in John: Peter warms himself by a charcoal fire during the denial scene, and the risen Jesus later has bread and fish prepared beside a charcoal fire on the shore.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀνθρακιά (G439) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἀνθρακιά names a charcoal fire or bed of burning coals. The local index records only two occurrences, both in John: Peter warms himself by a charcoal fire during the denial scene, and the risen Jesus later has bread and fish prepared beside a charcoal fire on the shore.
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a charcoal fire (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 18:18. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2).
ἀνθρακιά names a charcoal fire or bed of burning coals. The local index records only two occurrences, both in John: Peter warms himself by a charcoal fire during the denial scene, and the risen Jesus later has bread and fish prepared beside a charcoal fire on the shore. The repeated detail permits a cautious narrative comparison, but the noun itself does not state that the second fire symbolizes restoration or directly causes Peter to remember the first.
The pastoral weight comes from the scenes around the fires. John 18 follows Peter's denials to the rooster's crow. John 21 moves from the prepared meal to Jesus' three questions, commands to feed His sheep, prediction of Peter's death, and renewed call to follow. Teachers may help readers notice the repeated setting while making Jesus' words and actions, rather than the charcoal, carry the claims about truth, mercy, discipleship, and commission.
John 18:18 places Peter by a charcoal fire while he warms himself near the servants and officers. The scene belongs to the denial movement.
G439 occurs at two charcoal fires in John's Gospel. In John 18:18 Peter stands among servants and officers warming himself while the questioning around his discipleship unfolds. Verses 25-27 complete the denial sequence and end with the rooster's crow. The fire belongs to that concrete setting, but John does not assign an independent symbolic meaning to it.
In John 21:9 the disciples find a charcoal fire with fish and bread prepared by the risen Jesus. After the meal, Jesus questions Peter three times, commands him to feed and shepherd His flock, foretells the manner of his death, and tells him, 'Follow Me.' The second occurrence can recall the earlier scene for an attentive reader, yet the passage itself locates restoration and commission in Jesus' personal words and sovereign call.
This limited evidence rewards disciplined teaching. Notice the repeated noun, compare the two scenes, and state the literary connection cautiously. Do not turn the charcoal fire into a sacrament, a coded doctrine, or a psychological mechanism the text does not name.
John records the same uncommon setting detail in the denial scene and at the resurrection meal. That repetition supports a careful book-level comparison, but the theology of Peter's restoration comes from Jesus' questions, commands, prediction, and call in John 21 rather than from the fire itself.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A heap of burning coals; used in John for warming fires where disciples gather around Jesus.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a heap of burning coals
Read versea heap of burning coals
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 2 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀνθρακιά is built from this root:
Connects to Peter's prior denial (18:18), setting stage for restoration.
John's two uses of G439 give readers a concrete detail shared by Peter's denial setting and the risen Jesus' prepared meal. In John 18:18 Peter warms himself beside servants and officers as the denial sequence unfolds. In John 21:9 the disciples find bread and fish beside a charcoal fire prepared by the risen Jesus. The repeated noun can support a cautious narrative comparison, but it does not state its own symbolic meaning.
John 21:15-19 must carry the claims about restoration, shepherding, costly discipleship, and renewed following because those claims come from Jesus' questions, commands, prediction, and call. Teachers should notice the echo without claiming that the fire saves, condemns, purifies, or mechanically recreates Peter's memory. The concrete setting serves the Gospel's narrative; it does not replace the passage's explicit words.
John 18:18
G439 is a concrete noun for a charcoal fire or bed of coals. The local Greek index currently counts about two New Testament occurrences, both in John. Because the evidence is limited to two narrative settings, literary comparison should be stated as a cautious book-level observation rather than as part of the noun's lexical definition.
This companion stays with John's two occurrences. Other biblical fire imagery may carry judgment, presence, purification, or provision in its own passages, but those themes should not be imported into G439 merely because the object is a fire.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain