The fan was a small shovel, by which a portion of wheat was thrown up into the air, that the wind might carry away the chaff. Isa 30:24; Jer 4:11. It is also used symbolically for the judgements of God, Isa 41:16; Jer 15:7; 51:2; and for the discriminating power of the testimony of the Lord Jesus. Mt 3:12; Lu 3:17.
Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.
"You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the LORD, You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people--not to winnow and not to cleanse,
"I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways.
"I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may devastate her land; For on every side they will be opposed to her In the day of her calamity.
"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
"His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org