v. Leaf Litter, Straw
Job 21:18; Psa 1:4 the tea that snatches the whirlwind
Psa 35:5 let them be as tea before the wind, and the
Isa 17:13 they will be driven away like the t of the
Isa 47:14 behold, they shall be like the t; fire them
Tamo (Heb. môts, hashash, ûr; Gr. ájuron). Particle or highly volatile plant residue that is sometimes used symbolically to designate what is superficial, worthless and easily destroyed (Job 21:18; Psa 1:4; Isa 5:24, BJ; Dan 2:35; Luk 3: 17).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
The waste of grain that has been threshed and sifted. It’s part dust and dirt, but the real chaff is the hard, inedible layer of the grain. In Isa 5:24 and 33:11, the word properly means dry hay suitable for burning. The word is used in a figurative sense for useless and wicked men (eg Psa 1:4 : Not so the wicked, who are like the chaff that the wind drives away). It is also used of the wicked nations (Isa 17:13). In the preaching of John the Baptist (Mat 3:12; Luk 3:17), our Lord will save the righteous (he will gather their wheat into the barn) and destroy the wicked (he will burn the chaff in the fire).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
When grains, especially wheat, are threshed, a very light chaff, a kind of dust, separates. It is easily carried by the wind. That is why the word is used to describe what is ephemeral, what does not remain, what is inconsistent. The wicked are “like t. snatches away the whirlwind† (Job 21:18; Ps 1:4; Ps 35:5). The peoples that “will make a noise like many waters” will, in reality, be “like t. of the mountains before the wind† (Isa 17:13). In the midst of God’s judgments the strong ones of Jerusalem are “like you. what happens† (Isa 29:5). But the few of Israel will one day be a new threshing machine that will thresh mountains and “hills you will reduce to t. You will winnow them and the wind will carry them† (Isa 41:15). The figure is repeated in various oracles (Isa 47:14; Jer 13:24; Dan 2:35; Hos 13:3; Zep 2:2).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, SUPPLY TYPE
vet, The residue of the threshed and winnowed grain, the husk of the wheat. It is used to symbolically express that which is easily consumed by fire or carried away by the wind, of unworthy people (Ps. 1:4; 35:5; Is. 17:13; Jer. 13:24).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Fine straw and dust that remains in the beds after the threshing of cereals, such as barley and wheat. Although the biblical references to chaff are figurative, they reflect what threshing was like in ancient times. Once the grain was threshed, the chaff, inedible for man, was useless, so it was an appropriate symbol of something light, worthless and undesirable that had to be separated from the good to be discarded.
First, with threshing, the seed was separated from its glume (cover or shell of grasses). Then, when winnowing, the wind carried the chaff as if it were dust, while the grain remained on the threshing floor. (See FAN.) This well illustrates how Jehovah God drives backsliders out of his people and wipes out the wicked and the nations that oppose him. (Job 21:18; Ps 1:4; 35:5; Isa 17:13; 29:5; 41:15; Ho 13:3) The kingdom of God will crush its enemies into particles so small that the wind It will carry them easily, like chaff. (Da 2:35.)
The unusable chaff used to be collected and burned to prevent the wind from blowing it back and mixing with the grain heaps. Similarly, John the Baptist foretold the coming fiery destruction of the wicked false religions: the Thresher, Jesus Christ, will gather the wheat, “but the chaff he will burn up with fire that cannot be quenched.” (Mt 3:7-12; Lu 3:17; see THRESHING.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible