1:4 Not so with the wicked!
Instead 1 they are like wind-driven chaff. 2
10:16 The Lord rules forever! 3
The nations are driven out of his land. 4
35:5 May they be 5 like wind-driven chaff,
as the Lord’s angel 6 attacks them! 7
70:3 May those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
be driven back 8 and disgraced! 9
1 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.
2 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.
sn Wind-driven chaff. In contrast to the well-rooted and productive tree described in v. 3, the wicked are like a dried up plant that has no root system and is blown away by the wind. The simile describes the destiny of the wicked (see vv. 5-6).
3 tn Heb “the
4 tn Or “the nations perish from his land.” The perfect verb form may express what is typical or it may express rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude that God’s deliverance is “as good as done.”
sn The nations may be the underlying reality behind the psalmist’s references to the “wicked” in the earlier verses. This reference to the nations may have motivated the combining of Ps 10 with Ps 9 (see Ps 9:5, 15, 19).
5 tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. See v. 4.
6 sn See the mention of the
7 tn Heb “as the
8 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive in this imprecation.
9 tn Heb “May they be turned back according to their shame, those who say, ‘Aha! Aha!’” Ps 40:15 has the verb “humiliated” instead of “turned back” and adds “to me” after “say.”