Fire and brimstone

Fire and brimstone is a motif in Christian preaching that uses vivid descriptions of hell and damnation to encourage the listeners to fear divine wrath and punishment.

Biblical references

Several Biblical passages use the image of burning sulfur, or brimstone, to respresent divine wrath. The King James translation often renders such imagery with the phrase "fire and brimstone." In Genesis 19, God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah via a rain of fire and brimstone, and in Deuteronomy 29, the Israelites are threatened with the same punishment should they abandon their covenant with God. Elsewhere, divine judgments involving fire and sulfur are prophesied against Assyria (Isaiah 30), Edom (Isaiah 34), Gog (Ezekiel 38), and all the wicked (Psalm 11).

Related Topics:
Wrath - King James - Genesis - God - Sodom and Gomorrah - Deuteronomy - Assyria - Isaiah - Edom - Gog - Ezekiel - Psalm

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Fire and brimstone frequently appear as agents of divine wrath throughout the Book of Revelation, culminating in chapters 19–21, wherein the devil and the ungodly are cast into a lake of fire and brimstone as an eternal punishment:

Related Topics:
Book of Revelation - The devil

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:And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20, KJV)

Related Topics:
The beast - False prophet

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:And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10, KJV)

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:But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8, KJV)

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