Smoke

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Deuteronomy 29:20 (a) The anger of the living GOD is described in this graphic way. Smoke is easily seen, it tells of a fire raging somewhere, it tells of destruction. It is an omen of trouble. The wrath of GOD is all of this. (See2Sa  22:9;  Job 41:20;  Psalm 18:8;  Psalm 74:1).

 Psalm 37:20 (b) Here we see the evanescent and transient character of the wicked, who are carried away by the wrath of GOD, and are seen no more. (See also  Psalm 68:2).

 Psalm 102:3 (a) It is true that as the days pass in our lives the events of those days are blotted out of our minds and memories. They disappear and cannot be found again.

 Psalm 104:32 (b) It may be that our Lord is describing His wonderful power to destroy that which apparently cannot be destroyed. He is the GOD of the impossible. (See  Psalm 144:5).

 Psalm 119:83 (a) The Psalmist in the midst of sorrow, difficulty, trial and distress becomes dry, hard and unserviceable as does the skin bottle when it is hung over a fire. It becomes harsh and stiff. The Psalmist did not commit suicide when this happened. He went right to his Bible, the Word of GOD, to become repaired and become supple and soft in the presence of GOD.

 Song of Solomon 3:6 (c) Poetic license permits the use of words which may have various meanings. This passage may refer to the grace of movement and the ease of performance mingled with the fragrance and sweetness of love which undoubtedly characterizes the Lord Jesus Christ It may be that this is a prophecy concerning His beauty and character.

 Isaiah 4:5 (b) The reference is made to the pillar of fire and the cloud that led Israel through the wilderness. In this passage the Lord is reminding them that this will be the precious portion again of His people in a coming day of restoration.

 Isaiah 6:4 (b) As the incense from the golden altar filled the temple with fragrance, so the worship of GOD's people ascends to the Throne of GOD and is as perfume to Him. (See  Revelation 5:8).

 Isaiah 9:18 (a) By this statement the Lord is revealing to Israel that His wrath will be poured out upon the land and upon the people so that their wickedness shall be consumed, and the land will be left desolate.

 Isaiah 14:31 (a) We understand here that the invasion by a northern enemy will bring destruction and terrible punishment upon Israel because of their sins. The smoke is just an evidence of the presence of the destructive forces of fire.

 Isaiah 34:10 (a) This may be taken as a picture of the final judgment of GOD upon the earth and its inhabitants. The eternal character of this punishment is revealed also in  Revelation 14:11.

 Hosea 13:3 (a) The Lord again warns His people about the tragedy that awaits them because of their wickedness and rebellion against His Word. They will be scattered to the four winds and cease to be a nation.

 Joel 2:30 (b) Peter quotes this passage in  Acts 2:19 as indicating the great day of the power of the Spirit upon the earth. It probably refers to the wrath of GOD poured out in fire and judgment because men have rejected the Spirit of GOD and the Son of GOD.

 Revelation 9:2 (c) Probably we should consider that this expression is used in most of the passages in Revelation to illustrate the terrible power of GOD in executing vengeance on His enemies. The judgment of GOD is often revealed as fire, and of course the smoke indicates the presence of the fire. (See  Revelation 18:9;  Revelation 19:3).

 Revelation 14:11 (a) The eternal condition of the lost is represented here as being under the continual punishment of the GOD whom they neglected, or rejected. There is no end to their suffering. The ascending smoke indicates the presence of the burning fire.

 Revelation 15:8 (a) The expression "the glory of God" is often used in the Bible as one of the names of the Holy Spirit. His presence is also represented as a cloud which filled the temple in the Old Testament, and here.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(καπνός)

Smoke is the visible vapour or volatile matter which escapes from a burning substance. It is one of the commonest categories of apocalyptic prophecy. In St. John’s imagery the smoke of incense (q.v.[Note: .v. quod vide, which see.]), with (or rather ‘for,’ i.e. ‘in aid of’) the prayers of saints, goes up before God ( Revelation 8:4). The heavenly temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God ( Revelation 15:8,  Isaiah 6:4), a symbol of the dark and mysterious side of His self-manifestation, representing perhaps the reaction of His holiness against sin. The prophet Joes’s omens of blood and fire and vapour of smoke ( Acts 2:19 ||  Joel 2:30) may refer either to carnage and destruction in war or to lurid appearances in Nature. The smoke which issues from the opened pit of the abyss, darkening sun and air like the smoke of a great furnace (καμίνου), and resolving itself into demons in the form of locusts ( Revelation 9:2 f.), was suggested either by the mephitic fumes emitted from chasms and caverns, or the clouds of vapour rising from hot springs, or the fire and smoke belched forth by volcances, all of which phenomena seemed to the pre-scientific mind to be connected with a subterranean Hades. Out of the mouths of the apocalyptic horses, which have the heads of lions, there come fire and smoke ( Revelation 9:17), as from the mouth of Leviathan ( Job 41:20; cf. Diomede’s horses, Lucret. de Rerum nat. v. 29). The smoke of the torment of Caesar-worshippers goes up for ever in sight of the holy angels and the Lamb ( Revelation 14:11), a weird conception suggested by Enoch, xxvii. 2, 3, xlviii. 9, xc. 26, 27. The smoke of burning Babylon-Imperial Rome-resembling that of the cities of the Plain ( Genesis 19:28), is seen from afar by the kings of the earth ( Revelation 18:9) and all shipmasters and mariners ( Revelation 18:17 f.), as it ascends for ever and ever ( Revelation 19:3).

James Strahan.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) To raise a dust or smoke by rapid motion.

(2): ( n.) Hence, to burn; to be kindled; to rage.

(3): ( n.) To emit smoke; to throw off volatile matter in the form of vapor or exhalation; to reek.

(4): ( n.) To draw into the mouth the smoke of tobacco burning in a pipe or in the form of a cigar, cigarette, etc.; to habitually use tobacco in this manner.

(5): ( v. t.) To fill or scent with smoke; hence, to fill with incense; to perfume.

(6): ( v. t.) To inhale and puff out the smoke of, as tobacco; to burn or use in smoking; as, to smoke a pipe or a cigar.

(7): ( n.) The act of smoking, esp. of smoking tobacco; as, to have a smoke.

(8): ( n.) Anything unsubstantial, as idle talk.

(9): ( n.) That which resembles smoke; a vapor; a mist.

(10): ( n.) The visible exhalation, vapor, or substance that escapes, or expelled, from a burning body, especially from burning vegetable matter, as wood, coal, peat, or the like.

(11): ( v. t.) To apply smoke to; to hang in smoke; to disinfect, to cure, etc., by smoke; as, to smoke or fumigate infected clothing; to smoke beef or hams for preservation.

(12): ( v. t.) To smell out; to hunt out; to find out; to detect.

(13): ( v. t.) To ridicule to the face; to quiz.

(14): ( n.) To suffer severely; to be punished.

(15): ( v. t.) To subject to the operation of smoke, for the purpose of annoying or driving out; - often with out; as, to smoke a woodchuck out of his burrow.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

A — 1: Καπνός (Strong'S #2586 — Noun Masculine — kapnos — kap-nos' )

"smoke," occurs in  Acts 2:19 and 12 times in the Apocalypse.

B — 1: Τύφω (Strong'S #5188 — Verb — tupho — too'-fo )

"to raise a smoke" [akin to tuphos, "smoke" (not in the NT), and tuphoo, "to puff up with pride," see HIGH-MINDED], is used in the Passive Voice in  Matthew 12:20 , "smoking (flax)," lit., "caused to smoke," of the wick of a lamp which has ceased to burn clearly, figurative of mere nominal religiousness without the Spirit's power. The Sept. uses the verb kapnizo (akin to A).

King James Dictionary

SMOKE, n.

1. The exhalation, visble vapor or substance that escapes or is expelled in combustion from the substance burning. It is paricularly applied to the volatile matter expelled from vegetable matter, or wood coal, peat, &c. The matter expelled from metallic substances is more generally called fume,fumes. 2. Vapor water exhalations.

SMOKE,

1. To emit smoke to throw off volatile matter in the form of vapor or exhalation. Wood and other fuel smokes when burning amd smokes most when there is the least flame. 2. To burn to be kindled to rage in Scripture. The anger of the Lord and his jealousy snall smoke against that man.  Deuteronomy 29 . 3. To raise a dust or smoke by rapid motion. Proud of his steeds, be smokes along the field. 4. To smell or hunt out to suspect. I began to smoke that they were a parcel of mummers. Little used. 5. To use tobacco in a pipe or cigar, by kindling the tobacco, drawing the smoke into the mouth and puffing it out. 6. TO suffer to be punished. Some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(usually] עָשָׁ , Ashan, Καπνός  ; but in  Genesis 19:28;  Psalms 119:83, the stronger word קַיטוֹר , Kitor, is used, like Τύφομαι ,  Matthew 12:20). On the expression "pillars of smoke" ( Joel 2:30-31;  Acts 2:19-20) Thomson remarks (Land and Book, 2, 311) that they "are probably those columns of sand and dust raised high in the air by local whirlwinds, which often accompany the sirocco. On the great desert of the Hauran I have seen a score of them moving with great rapidity over the plain." (See Whirlwind).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

smōk  : Used figuratively of the divine jealousy (  Deuteronomy 29:20 ) and anger ( Psalm 74:1 ); symbolic of the glory of the divine holiness ( Isaiah 4:5;  Isaiah 6:4;  Revelation 15:8 ).