Let them be like 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.
- KJV Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
- BSB May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
- 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 21:18How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?
- Isa 29:5But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.
- Hos 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney.
- Exod 14:19The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them.
- Heb 11:28By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
- Isa 17:13The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
- Ps 1:4The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
- Acts 12:23Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Isa 37:36Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
- Ps 83:13–17My God, make them like tumbleweed; like chaff 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.