A bed of burning coals
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ἀνθρακιά names a charcoal fire, a bed of burning coals. John uses the word only at two loaded moments: Peter warms himself by a charcoal fire during the denial scene, and later meets the risen Jesus beside a charcoal fire on the shore.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀνθρακιά (G439) · Open the biblical lexicon
ἀνθρακιά names a charcoal fire, a bed of burning coals. John uses the word only at two loaded moments: Peter warms himself by a charcoal fire during the denial scene, and later meets the risen Jesus 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, a bed of burning coals. John uses the word only at two loaded moments: Peter warms himself by a charcoal fire during the denial scene, and later meets the risen Jesus beside a charcoal fire on the shore. The word should not be turned into an allegory, but John lets the repeated setting carry narrative memory. The second fire quietly brings the first failure back into view while Jesus restores Peter with patient questions and commission.
The pastoral value of ἀνθρακιά is not that the fire itself saves or condemns. The word marks a place where memory gathers. Around one fire Peter denies; around another fire Jesus feeds, questions, and sends. That helps readers see that John can use concrete details to bind scenes together. The detail serves the passage, and the passage shows Christ meeting failure with truth, mercy, and renewed calling.
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.
ἀνθρακιά is a small word with unusual narrative weight in John. The first fire appears in the courtyard while Peter stands with those who are not following Jesus faithfully. He warms himself, but his words grow cold toward the Lord he had promised to follow.
The second fire appears after the resurrection. Jesus has prepared bread and fish, and Peter is drawn into a conversation of love, grief, and commission. The repeated charcoal-fire setting does not erase the failure. It places failure under the searching mercy of the risen Christ.
This is why the word is useful for teaching. John does not need to explain the connection with a label. The reader feels it. A detail from one scene becomes an echo in another, and the echo helps readers see that Jesus restores real sinners in real history.
John uses ἀνθρακιά as a concrete narrative marker that links failure and restoration. The word does not carry the theology alone, but the repeated setting helps the reader remember the denial when hearing the restoration.
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.
This word opens a path for showing how John uses concrete narrative details to recall failure and frame restoration. It helps teachers connect Peter's denial and restoration without making the charcoal fire carry more than the passages give.
It corrects flat readings that miss John's repeated setting, and it also corrects speculative readings that turn the fire into an independent theological symbol.
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