Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them be as chaff before the wind, Yahweh’s angel driving them on.
- BSB May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
- NKJV Let them be like chaff before the wind, And let the angel of the Lord chase them.
- NASB Let them be like chaff before the wind, With the angel of the Lord driving them on.
- NLT Blow them away like chaff in the wind— a wind sent by the angel of the Lord.
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
David asks that his enemies be like wind-driven chaff, scattered by the angel of the Lord.
Overview
Borrowing imagery of worthless chaff blown away, David prays for the swift dispersal of his foes by God's angel. The picture conveys the instability and downfall of those who oppose God's servant. It reflects the biblical theme that the wicked cannot stand in judgment before the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Job 21:18They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
- Isa 29:5Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
- Hos 13:3Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
- Exod 14:19And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
- Heb 11:28Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
- Isa 17:13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
- Ps 1:4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
- Acts 12:23And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
- Isa 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
- Ps 83:13–17O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.
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 35:5 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.