Christian Standard Bible
Matthew 3:12
12His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.”
Matthew 3:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
- New King James Version (NKJV)His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Context of Matthew 3:12
10The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.” 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”
Read all of Matthew 3Matthew 3:12 word by word
οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- Whoseὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
- fanπτύονptuon · winnowing forkG4425
- inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
- hisαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- handχείρcheir · handG5495
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- he will throughly purgeδιακαθαρίζωdiakatharizō · to clear outG1245
- floorἅλωνhalōn · threshing-floorG257
- gatherσυνάγωsunagō · to assembleG4863
- wheatσῖτοςsitos · grainG4621
- intoεἰςeis · towardG1519
- the garnerἀποθήκηapothēkē · storehouseG596
- butδέde · thenG1161
- he will burn upκατακαίωkatakaiō · to burnG2618
- the chaffἄχυρονachuron · chaffG892
- with unquenchableἄσβεστοςasbestos · unquenchableG762
- fireπῦρpur · fireG4442
Cross-references for Matthew 3:12
- Isaiah 30:24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.
- Isaiah 41:16You will winnow them and a wind will carry them away, a whirlwind will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 4:11“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to my dear people. It comes not to winnow or to sift;
- Jeremiah 15:7I scattered them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I made them childless; I destroyed my people. They would not turn from their ways.
- Jeremiah 51:2I will send strangers to Babylon who will scatter her and strip her land bare, for they will come against her from every side in the day of disaster.
- Luke 3:17His winnowing shovel is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.”
- Matthew 13:41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness.
- Malachi 3:2But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach.
- Malachi 4:1“For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches.
- John 15:2Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
- Matthew 13:30Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’”
- Amos 9:9for I am about to give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes a sieve, but not a pebble will fall to the ground.
- Job 21:18Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff a storm sweeps away?
- Psalms 1:4The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
- Psalms 35:5Let them be like chaff in the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away.
- Isaiah 5:24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Armies, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Commentaries on Matthew 3:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Whose fan is in his hand - The Romans are here termed God's fan, as, in Matthew 3:10, they were called his axe, and, in Matthew 22:7, they are termed his troops or armies. The winnowing fan of the Hindoos is square, made of split bamboo; and the corn is winnowed by waving the fan backwards with both hands - "Whose fan is in his hand." His floor - Does not this mean the land of Judea, which had been long, as it were, the threshing-floor of the Lord? God…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12His fan - The word used here and rendered “fan” means a winnowing shovel instead. It was used for throwing the grain, after it was threshed, into the air, so that the chaff might be driven away by the wind. This mode of separating the grain from the chaff is still practiced in the East. It is not probable that the fan, as the term is now used, was known to the Orientals as an instrument for cleaning grain. See the notes at Isaiah 30:24. His floor - The…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-12Verses 7-12 To make application to the souls of the hearers, is the life of preaching; so it was of John's preaching. The Pharisees laid their chief stress on outward observances, neglecting the weightier matters of the moral law, and the spiritual meaning of their legal ceremonies. Others of them were detestable hypocrites, making their pretences to holiness a cloak for iniquity. The Sadducees ran into the opposite extreme, denying the existence of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12Farmers used a winnowing fork to throw harvested grain into the air, letting the useless husks (chaff) blow away. The Messiah's work separates humanity into two groups: the wheat, those who respond and become God's new people; and the chaff, those who refuse to repent (see Matthew 3:8).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. Whose fan--winnowing fan. is in his hand--ready for use. This is no other than the preaching of the Gospel, even now beginning, the effect of which would be to separate the solid from the spiritually worthless, as wheat, by the winnowing fan, from the chaff. (Compare the similar representation in Mal 3:1-3). and he will throughly purge his floor--threshing-floor; that is, the visible Church. and gather his wheat--His true-hearted saints; so called for…Read the comment
Topics related to Matthew 3:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Matthew 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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