'Chaff' in the Bible

“Will You cause a windblown leaf to tremble?Will You pursue the chaff of the dry stubble?

“Are they like straw before the wind,And like chaff that the storm steals and carries away?

The wicked [those who live in disobedience to God’s law] are not so,But they are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.

Let them be [blown away] like chaff before the wind [worthless, without substance],With the angel of the Lord driving them on.

O my God, make them like whirling dust,Like chaff before the wind [worthless and without substance].

The lips of the wise spread knowledge [sifting it as chaff from the grain];But the hearts of [shortsighted] fools are not so.

A [discerning] king who sits on the throne of judgmentSifts all evil [like chaff] with his eyes [and cannot be easily fooled].

A wise king sifts out the wicked [from among the good]And drives the [threshing] wheel over them [to separate the chaff from the grain].

The nations roar on like the roaring of many waters,But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind,Or like whirling dust before the storm.

But the multitude of your enemies [that assault you] will become like fine dust,And the multitude of the tyrants like the chaff which blows away;And it will happen in an instant, suddenly [that your enemy is destroyed].

“You have conceived dried grass, you will give birth to stubble;My breath is a fire that will consume you.

“Who has stirred up and put into action one from the east [the king of Persia, Cyrus the Great]Whom He calls in righteousness to His service and whom victory meets at every step?The Lord turns nations over to himAnd subdues kings.He makes them like dust with his sword,Like wind-driven chaff with his bow.

“In fact, I have made of you a new, sharp threshing implement with sharp edges;You will thresh the mountains and crush them,And make the hills like chaff.

In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the wilderness [comes at My command] against the daughter of My people—not [a wind] to winnow and not to cleanse [from chaff, as when threshing, but]

“Therefore I will scatter you like drifting straw[Driven away] by the desert wind.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. And the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Therefore they will be [swiftly dissipated] like the morning cloudOr like dew which soon disappears,Like chaff which swirls with the whirlwind from the threshing floor,And like smoke from the chimney or through the window [worthless and without substance —they will vanish].

Before the decree takes effect [and the time for repentance is lost]—The day passes like the chaff [whirled by the wind]—Before the burning and fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you,Before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you.

His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat (believers) into His barn (kingdom), but He will burn up the chaff (the unrepentant) with unquenchable fire.”

His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat (believers) into His barn (kingdom); but He will burn up the chaff (the unrepentant) with unquenchable fire.”