As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- BSB As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.
- NKJV As smoke is driven away, So drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- NASB As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before a fire, So the wicked will perish before God.
- NLT Blow them away like smoke. Melt them like wax in a fire. Let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
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
As smoke and melting wax vanish before fire, so the wicked perish before God. It pictures the certain undoing of evil in God's presence.
Overview
David uses images of dispersing smoke and melting wax to show how the wicked cannot stand before the holy God. Evil simply cannot endure His presence. This points to the final judgment, when all that opposes God will be removed before the glory of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mic 1:4And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
- Ps 37:20But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
- 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.
- Isa 9:18For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
- Ps 97:5The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
- Rev 6:16–17And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
- Ps 80:16It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
- Isa 64:2As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
- Ps 76:7Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
- Nah 1:5–6The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
- 2 Th 1:8–9In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 68:2 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.