Yeremia 4:11-12

4:11 “At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem ¹  will be told,

‘A scorching wind will sweep down

from the hilltops in the desert on ²  my dear people. ³ 

It will not be a gentle breeze

for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff. ⁴ 

4:12 No, ⁵  a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.

Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’ ⁶ 

Mazmur 1:4

1:4 Not so with the wicked!

Instead ⁷  they are like wind-driven chaff. ⁸ 

Mazmur 83:13-15

83:13 O my God, make them like dead thistles, ⁹ 

like dead weeds blown away by ¹⁰  the wind!

83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,

or the flames that consume the mountainsides, ¹¹ 

83:15 chase them with your gale winds,

and terrify ¹²  them with your windstorm.

Yesaya 17:13

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ¹³ 

when he shouts at ¹⁴  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ¹⁵  before a strong gale.

Yesaya 41:16

41:16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away;

the wind will scatter them.

You will rejoice in the Lord;

you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

Hosea 13:3

13:3 Therefore they will disappear like ¹⁶  the morning mist, ¹⁷ 

like early morning dew that evaporates, ¹⁸ 

like chaff that is blown away ¹⁹  from a threshing floor,

like smoke that disappears through an open window.

Zefanya 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ²⁰  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ²¹ 

before the Lord’s raging anger ²²  overtakes ²³  you –

before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you!

[4:11]  ¹ tn Heb “this people and Jerusalem.”

[4:11]  ² tn Heb “A scorching wind from the hilltops in the desert toward…”

[4:11]  sn The allusion is, of course, to the destructive forces of the enemy armies of Babylon compared above in 4:7 to a destructive lion and here to the destructive desert winds of the Near Eastern sirocco.

[4:11]  ³ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” The term “daughter of” is appositional to “my people” and is supplied in the translation as a term of sympathy and endearment. Compare the common expression “daughter of Zion.”

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “not for winnowing and not for cleansing.” The words “It will not be a gentle breeze” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation here for clarification.

[4:12]  ⁵ tn The word “No” is not in the text but is carried over from the connection with the preceding line “not for…”

[4:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “will speak judgments against them.”

[1:4]  ⁷ tn Here the Hebrew expression כִּי־אִם (ki-’im, “instead,” cf. v. 2) introduces a contrast between the prosperity of the godly depicted in v. 3 and the destiny of the wicked described in v. 4.

[1:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “[they are] like the chaff which [the] wind blows about.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the typical nature of the action described.

[1:4]  sn Wind-driven chaff. In contrast to the well-rooted and productive tree described in v. 3, the wicked are like a dried up plant that has no root system and is blown away by the wind. The simile describes the destiny of the wicked (see vv. 5-6).

[83:13]  ⁹ tn Or “tumbleweed.” The Hebrew noun גַּלְגַּל (galgal) refers to a “wheel” or, metaphorically, to a whirling wind (see Ps 77:18). If taken in the latter sense here, one could understand the term as a metonymical reference to dust blown by a whirlwind (cf. NRSV “like whirling dust”). However, HALOT 190 s.v. II גַּלְגַּל understands the noun as a homonym referring to a “dead thistle” here and in Isa 17:13. The parallel line, which refers to קַשׁ (qash, “chaff”), favors this interpretation.

[83:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “before.”

[83:14]  ¹¹ sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.

[83:15]  ¹² tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 15 express the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[17:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ¹⁴ tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[17:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”

[13:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they will be like” (so NASB, NIV).

[13:3]  ¹⁷ tn The phrase כְּעֲנַן־בֹּקֶר (kÿ’anan-boqer, “like a cloud of the morning”) occurs also in Hos 6:4 in a similar simile. The Hebrew poets and prophets refer to morning clouds as a simile for transitoriness (Job 7:9; Isa 44:22; Hos 6:4; 13:3; HALOT 858 s.v. עָנָן 1.b; BDB 778 s.v. עָנָן 1.c).

[13:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “like the early rising dew that goes away”; TEV “like the dew that vanishes early in the day.”

[13:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “storm-driven away”; KJV, ASV “driven with the whirlwind out.” The verb יְסֹעֵר (yÿso’er, Poel imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from סָעַר, sa’ar, “to storm”) often refers to the intense action of strong, raging storm winds (e.g., Jonah 1:11, 13). The related nouns refer to “heavy gale,” “storm wind,” and “high wind” (BDB 704 s.v. סָעַר; HALOT 762 s.v. סער). The verb is used figuratively to describe the intensity of God’s destruction of the wicked whom he will “blow away” (Isa 54:11; Hos 13:3; Hab 3:14; Zech 7:14; BDB 704 s.v.; HALOT 762 s.v.).

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before the giving birth of a decree.” For various alternative readings, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 187-88.

[2:2]  ²¹ tn The second half of the line reads literally, “like chaff it passes by a day.” The translation above assumes the “day” is the brief time God is giving the nation to repent. The comparison of this quickly passing opportunity to chaff is consistent with the straw imagery of v. 1.

[2:2]  ²² tn Heb “the fury of the anger of the Lord.” The synonyms are combined to emphasize the extreme degree of the Lord’s anger.

[2:2]  ²³ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.