Isaiah 17:13

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ¹ 

when he shouts at ²  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ³  before a strong gale.

Job 21:18

21:18 How often ⁴  are they like straw before the wind,

and like chaff swept away ⁵  by a whirlwind?

Psalms 1:4

1:4 Not so with the wicked!

Instead ⁶  they are like wind-driven chaff. ⁷ 

Psalms 35:5

35:5 May they be ⁸  like wind-driven chaff,

as the Lord’s angel ⁹  attacks them! ¹⁰ 

[17:13]  ¹ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”

[21:18]  ⁴ tn To retain the sense that the wicked do not suffer as others, this verse must either be taken as a question or a continuation of the question in v. 17.

[21:18]  ⁵ tn The verb used actually means “rob.” It is appropriate to the image of a whirlwind suddenly taking away the wisp of straw.

[1:4]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[35:5]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. See v. 4.

[35:5]  ⁹ sn See the mention of the Lord’s angel in Ps 34:7.

[35:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “as the Lord’s angel pushes [them].”