Bible Strands
Matthew 3:12
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — John the Baptist, at the Jordan, addressing the crowds gathered for his baptism, describing the One who follows him.
The words — πτύον (ptuon), "winnowing fork," a long-handled implement for tossing grain into the wind so chaff separates from wheat; the word appears only here and in Luke 3:17 in the New Testament.
The thread — Malachi 4:1 (the day burning like a furnace, evildoers as stubble), Matthew 13:30 (weeds gathered and burned at harvest), Luke 3:17 (parallel account).
Why it lands — The verse offers no middle category: wheat is gathered or chaff is burned, and the reader is forced to ask which side of the fork they stand on.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Malachi 4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
- Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
- Luke 3:17 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Isaiah 41:16 You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 51:2 I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
- Psalms 1:4 Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
- Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.
- Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
- Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
- John 15:2 He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.