Chaff (Hastings' Dictionary)

The AV renders by this term four Heb. words. 1, v-f^ hdshnsh. This word occurs but twice in OT, Is 5" 33", where it is rendered A V ' chaff. ' It would be better rendered ' cut grass ' or ' dry grass ' (as Is 5" RV). 2. po or p mvz. This is chad' separated from the gram bj' w innow- ing. It is usually tr. in LXX x'-oi's (Ps I'' 35', Is 29', Hos 13'), once x''"''' axipov (Is 17"), and once Koi'iopTSs = dust (Job 21'*). In the Oriental process of winnowing by tossing the cut straw, grain, and chaft'into the air, the grain falls vertically back on the heap, the cut straw is carried a little dis';ance away and deposited in another heap, while the chaff, consisting of the husks and the finer particles of the straw, is carried to and beyond the borders i)f the threshing-floor. Hence the imagery of the passages cited. 3. ppi tcbhen, the same as the Arab. tibn=cut stmw. This word is only once tr. 'chaff' (Jer 23^ AV, where LXX renders i!x''P'»'. and RV 'straw'). In all the other passages where it occurs, except Job 21", where it is incorrectly rendered 'stubble,' it is tr. 'straw.' Cvt straw is preferable. See Stuaw. 4. -vy '■dr. This is an Aramaic word of somewhat uncertain signification. Some have derived it from the root Ty to be blind, and regard it as that which blinds, such as the minute particles called AV 'chatl'of the summer threshing-floors' (Dn 2»'). The LXX rendering Kovioprl}^ in this passage would make it the dust and not the chaff oi the threshing-floor. This con- tains, however, many minute spicules of the straw, husks, and beards of the grain. G. E. Post.