His breath kindleth coals - It seems to be a flame, and to set on fire all around it. So Hesiod, “Theog.” i. 319, describing the creation of the Chimera, speaks of it as
πνέουσαν ἀμαισάκετον πῦρ
pneousan amaimaketon pur.
“Breathing unquenchable fire,” So Virgil, “Georg.” ii. 140:
Haec loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem Invertere.
“Bulls breathing fire these furrows ne’er have known.”
Warton
A similar phrase is found in a sublime description of the anger of the Almighty, in Psalms 18:8 :
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,
And fire out of his mouth devoured:
Coals were kindled by it.