Hebrew word · H5086
נָדַף
nidaf
to drive
To drive away, scatter, blow away, used of wind acting on light things. Chaff 'which the wind drives away' (Ps 1:4), smoke that is 'driven off' (Ps 68:2 [Heb 68:3]), a 'driven leaf' (Lev 26:36; Job 13:25), stubble driven by the bow (Isa 41:2).
Appears 9 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to drive, drive away, drive asunder
1a) (Qal) to drive about
1b)(Niphal) to be driven, be driven about
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Proverbs 21:6
- Range of meaning
To drive away, scatter, blow away, used of wind acting on light things. Chaff 'which the wind drives away' (Ps 1:4), smoke that is 'driven off' (Ps 68:2 [Heb 68:3]), a 'driven leaf' (Lev 26:36; Job 13:25), stubble driven by the bow (Isa 41:2).
- Against the English
KJV 'tossed to and fro' suggests aimless drifting. YLT 'driven away' is closer. BSB, NIV and ESV fold the word into 'vanishing' or 'fleeting,' which keeps the idea of disappearance but loses the outside force that does the driving.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The parallels above all describe the fate of the wicked or the faithless as weightless stuff scattered by wind. Psalm 1:4 is the clearest case.
- Range of meaning
To drive away, blow away, scatter, especially by wind. Things described this way are light and helpless: smoke, leaves, stubble, vapor.
- Against the English
"Drives away" (KJV, WEB, YLT) and "blows away" (NIV) are both fine. BSB's "driven off" turns it into a passive. That loses the Hebrew's picture of the wind as the one acting on the chaff, though the meaning stays the same.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ps 68:2 (Heb. 68:3), "as smoke is driven away, so drive them away", a prayer for God's enemies to vanish; Lev 26:36, the sound of "a driven leaf" making the disobedient flee; Job 13:25, "will you frighten a driven leaf?"; Isa 41:2, "driven stubble"; Prov 21:6, wealth gained by lying is "a vapor driven away."
- Range of meaning
To drive away, to scatter, to blow away. It is used almost only for wind or force pushing something light and loose: chaff, a leaf, mist. The passive form means 'driven, windblown, fleeting'.
- Against the English
KJV/WEB 'driven away' is accurate. BSB 'drive them out' can make readers think of expelling people from a territory, as in the conquest stories, which use other verbs (garash, horish). NIV 'blow away' keeps the picture of wind.
- How it drifted
The verb hasn't drifted. The English choice 'drive out' only moves the picture from wind to military expulsion.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Lev 26:36 'the sound of a driven leaf' (ʿaleh niddāf); Job 13:25 'a driven leaf'; Prov 21:6 'a fleeting vapour' (hevel niddāf); Isa 19:7 sown fields 'driven away' and gone; Ps 1:4 has the same idea with a different verb (chaff 'that the wind drives away').
Where it appears
Leviticus · 1
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Leviticus 26:36 נִדָּ֔ף driven about
As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
Here: A passive participle, 'being driven'. The same verb describes chaff and smoke scattered by wind. The leaf is itself helpless, pushed around by the wind, and yet it puts men to flight.
Job · 2
Psalms · 3
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Psalm 1:4 תִּדְּפֶ֥נּוּ it drives about it
Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
Here: "(It) drives it away". The verb is feminine because "wind" is grammatically feminine, and "it" is the chaff. The Hebrew verb form describes something that happens every time, like a law of nature: whenever the wind meets chaff, the chaff goes.
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Psalm 68:2 כְּהִנְדֹּ֥ף תִּ֫נְדֹּ֥ף as is driven about, may you drive [them] about
As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.
Here: The preposition 'as/like' is joined to a passive verbal noun of nadaf, 'to drive or blow away', the word for wind scattering chaff or leaves. It opens the first picture: smoke torn apart by the wind.
Proverbs · 1
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Proverbs 21:6 נִ֝דָּ֗ף driven about
Making a fortune by a lying tongue is a vanishing mist, a deadly pursuit.
Here: A passive participle, 'being driven,' the word used for chaff or smoke scattered by wind. The breath does more than fade: something blows it away. The fortune is pushed out of existence.
Isaiah · 2
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Isaiah 19:7 נִדַּ֖ף it will be driven about
The bulrushes by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the fields sown along the Nile, will wither, blow away, and be no more.
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Isaiah 41:2 נִדָּ֖ף driven about
Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.
Here: 'Driven / windblown,' a passive participle. The picture is chaff scattered by the wind on the threshing floor (compare Ps 1:4; 68:2). The enemy does not just fall; it blows away.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.