Topic
Chaff
16 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Psalms 1:4Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
- Isaiah 17:13Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
The 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.
- Hosea 13:3Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Therefore 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.
- Isaiah 5:24Easton · ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of…
- Jeremiah 23:28Easton · ISBE · Nave General scriptures concerning
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
- Zephaniah 2:2Easton · Smith · ISBE
Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you.
- Matthew 3:12Easton · ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
- Job 21:18ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
- Psalms 35:5ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
- Isaiah 33:11Easton · ISBE
Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
- Daniel 2:35ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image…
- Luke 3:17ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
Show 4 more
- Exodus 15:7 Easton
- Isaiah 29:5 ISBE
- Isaiah 41:15 ISBE
- Isaiah 41:16 ISBE
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 11 references
The refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned (Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; Matt. 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay (Isa. 5:24; 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive wickedness (Ps. 1:4; Matt. 3:12). False doctrines are also called chaff (Jer. 23:28), or more correctly rendered “chopped straw.” The destruction of the wicked, and their powerlessness, are likened to the carrying away of chaff by the wind (Isa. 17:13; Hos. 13:3; Zeph. 2:2).
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 4 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 22 references
chaf: Four different words have been translated "chaff" in the Old Testament:
(1) mots, is found in Job 21:18; Ps 1:4; 35:5; Isa 17:13; 29:5; 41:15; Ho 13:3; Ze 2:2.
(2) chashash, occurs in two verses (Isa 5:24; 33:11). Compare "chashish," an Arabic word which, as commonly used, denotes grass either standing or cut, green or dry, although, strictly speaking, dry or cut grass alone. In the Revised Version (British and American) Isa 5:24 the translation is "dry grass."
(3) tebhen, is translated "chaff" in the King James Version (Jer 23:28). The same word is rendered "straw" in the Revised Version (British and American) (compare Arabic tibn).
(4) 'ur, a Chaldaic word, occurs in Da 2:35.
In the New Testament achuron, is found in Mt 3:12 and Lu 3:17.
In the process of winnowing, as it has been carried on in the East for thousands of years, the grain is tossed into the air so that the wind may cause a separation of chaff and straw. The light husks from the wheat and fine particles of straw are dispersed by the wind in the form of a fine dust; the heavier straw which has been broken into short pieces by the threshing process falls near at hand on the edge of the threshing-floor, while the grain falls back upon the pile. In Syria and Palestine, that which falls near at hand as cut straw is called tibn. This word occurs in the Arabic translation of Mt 3:12 and Lu 3:17. This straw is ordinarily saved and fed as "roughage" to the animals. It could easily be gathered and burned, as indicated in the above-mentioned verses, while the chaff is blown away beyond recovery, a strong figure to depict complete annihilation (Job 21:18; Isa 29:5; 41:16; Ho 13:3, Da 2:35).
See AGRICULTURE; STRAW; WINNOWING.
JAMES A. Patch
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.