Luke 3:17

3:17 His winnowing fork ¹  is in his hand to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, ²  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ³ 

Luke 12:24

12:24 Consider the ravens: ⁴  They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds ⁵  them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

[3:17]  ¹ sn A winnowing fork is a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blows away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

[3:17]  ² tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building for housing livestock).

[3:17]  ³ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

[12:24]  ⁴ tn Or “crows.” Crows and ravens belong to the same family of birds. English uses “crow” as a general word for the family. Palestine has several indigenous members of the crow family.

[12:24]  ⁵ tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”