Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 18:8

"There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it." — Psalms 18:8 (ASV)

A smoke. —Now the thunder-cloud forms—smoke, as it were, from the nostrils of God (Deuteronomy 29:20: the literal rendering is, “there ascended smoke in his nostrils”)—and intermittent flashes of lightning dart forth and play about the distant summits, seeming to devour everything in its path. (Compare the expression “lambent flame.”)

Coals were kindled by it. —Rather, flaming coals blazed from it.