English Standard Version
Psalms 1:4
4The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Psalms 1:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
- New International Version (NIV)Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
- New King James Version (NKJV)The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
- New Living Translation (NLT)But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
Context of Psalms 1:4
2but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Read all of Psalms 1Psalms 1:4 word by word
לֹא־כֵ֥ן הָרְשָׁעִ֑ים כִּ֥י אִם־כַּ֝מֹּ֗ץ אֲֽשֶׁר־תִּדְּפֶ֥נּוּ רֽוּחַ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 1:4
- Psalms 35:5Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away!
- Job 21:18That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
- Isaiah 17:13The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.
- Isaiah 29:5But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,
- Hosea 13:3Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window.
- Matthew 3:12His 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."
Commentaries on Psalms 1:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4The ungodly are not so - The Vulgate and Septuagint, and the versions made from them, such as the Ethiopic and Arabic, double the last negation, and add a clause to the end of the verse, "Not so the ungodly, not so; they shall be like the dust which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth." There is nothing solid in the men; there is nothing good in their ways. They are not of God's planting; they are not good grain; they are only chaff, and a…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4The ungodly are not so - literally, “Not thus the wicked.” For the word ungodly, see the notes at Psalm 1:1. The statement that the “wicked are not so,” is a general statement applicable alike to their character and destiny, though the mind of the author of the psalm is fixed immediately and particularly on the difference in their destiny, without specifying anything particularly respecting their character. It is as true, however, that the ungodly do walk…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-6Verses 4-6 The ungodly are the reverse of the righteous, both in character and condition. The ungodly are not so, ver. 4; they are led by the counsel of the wicked, in the way of sinners, to the seat of the scornful; they have no delight in the law of God; they bring forth no fruit but what is evil. The righteous are like useful, fruitful trees: the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind drives away: the dust which the owner of the floor desires to…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4The future judgment (Psalm 1:5) will remove the wicked and everything they have done (Psalms 35:5; 83:13; Isaiah 17:13; see study note on Jeremiah 13:24).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. not so--either as to conduct or happiness. like the chaff--which, by Eastern modes of winnowing against the wind, was utterly blown away.Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 1:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
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