Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
- KJV The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
- NKJV The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
- NASB ¶The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
- NLT But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The wicked are the opposite of the rooted tree: worthless, weightless chaff blown away by the wind. Life apart from God has no substance or stability.
Overview
Chaff is the useless husk separated from grain at threshing, swept off by the wind. The image conveys the emptiness and impermanence of the wicked, who have no root and cannot endure. John the Baptist later applies this imagery to the coming judgment, when Christ will separate wheat from chaff (Matthew 3:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 21:18Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
- Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Ps 35:5May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
- Isa 17:13The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.
- Hos 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
- Isa 29:5But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 1:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.