Psalm 68:2
New International Version
May you blow them away like smoke— as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.

New Living Translation
Blow them away like smoke. Melt them like wax in a fire. Let the wicked perish in the presence of God.

English Standard Version
As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!

Berean Standard Bible
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.

King James Bible
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

New King James Version
As smoke is driven away, So drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

New American Standard Bible
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before a fire, So the wicked will perish before God.

NASB 1995
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish before God.

NASB 1977
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish before God.

Legacy Standard Bible
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish before God.

Amplified Bible
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked and guilty perish before [the presence of] God.

Christian Standard Bible
As smoke is blown away, so you blow them away. As wax melts before the fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
As smoke is blown away, so You blow them away. As wax melts before the fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.

American Standard Version
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: As wax melteth before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they will vanish like smoke vanishes, and as wax is melted before fire, the wicked shall be destroyed from before God.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
As smoke vanishes, let them vanish: as wax melts before the fire, so let the sinners perish from before God.

Contemporary English Version
Scatter them like smoke! When you come near, make them melt like wax in a fire.

Douay-Rheims Bible
As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

English Revised Version
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Blow them away like smoke. Let wicked people melt in God's presence like wax next to a fire.

Good News Translation
As smoke is blown away, so he drives them off; as wax melts in front of the fire, so do the wicked perish in God's presence.

International Standard Version
As smoke is driven away, so you drive them away. As wax melts in the presence of fire, so the wicked die in the presence of God.

JPS Tanakh 1917
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melteth before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Literal Standard Version
You drive them away as the driving away of smoke, | As the melting of wax before fire, | The wicked perish at the presence of God.

Majority Standard Bible
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.

New American Bible
As the smoke is dispersed, disperse them; as wax is melted by fire, so may the wicked perish before God.

NET Bible
As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.

New Revised Standard Version
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God.

New Heart English Bible
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Webster's Bible Translation
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

World English Bible
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Young's Literal Translation
As the driving away of smoke Thou drivest away, As the melting of wax before fire, The wicked perish at the presence of God.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Enemies Are Scattered
1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A song. God arises. His enemies are scattered, and those who hate Him flee His presence. 2As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God. 3But the righteous will be glad and rejoice before God; they will celebrate with joy.…

Cross References
Numbers 10:35
Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, "Rise up, O LORD! May Your enemies be scattered; may those who hate You flee before You."

Judges 5:31
So may all your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest." And the land had rest for forty years.

Psalm 9:3
When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before You.

Psalm 22:14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.

Psalm 37:20
But the wicked and enemies of the LORD will perish like the glory of the fields. They will vanish; like smoke they will fade away.

Psalm 80:16
Your vine has been cut down and burned; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.

Psalm 97:5
The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.


Treasury of Scripture

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

As smoke

Psalm 37:20
But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

Isaiah 9:18
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.

Hosea 13:3
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

as wax

Psalm 97:5
The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

Isaiah 64:2
As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

Micah 1:4
And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

in the presence

Psalm 76:7
Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

Psalm 80:16
It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

Nahum 1:5,6
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein…

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Psalm 68
1. A prayer at the removing of the ark
4. An exhortation to praise God for his mercies
7. for his care of the church
19. for his great works














(2) Smoke.--The figure of the vanishing smoke has occurred before (see Psalm 37:20); for that of the melting wax see Psalm 97:5. Both figures are too obvious to need reference to the cloud and fire of the ancient encampment.

Verse 2. - As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As clouds of smoke are dispersed and driven away by the wind, and totally disappear, so let God, whenever his enemies congregate, scatter and disperse them, and reduce them to nothingness. As wax melteth before the firs, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. As smoke vanishes, so wax entirely melts away and disappears before a hot fire (comp. Psalm 22:14; Psalm 97:5).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
As smoke
עָשָׁ֗ן (‘ā·šān)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6227: Smoke

is blown away,
כְּהִנְדֹּ֥ף (kə·hin·dōp̄)
Preposition-k | Verb - Nifal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5086: To shove asunder, disperse

You will drive [them] out;
תִּ֫נְדֹּ֥ף (tin·dōp̄)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 5086: To shove asunder, disperse

as wax
דּ֭וֹנַג (dō·w·naḡ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1749: Wax (as melting)

melts
כְּהִמֵּ֣ס (kə·him·mês)
Preposition-k | Verb - Nifal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 4549: To liquefy, to waste, to faint

before
מִפְּנֵי־ (mip·pə·nê-)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

the fire,
אֵ֑שׁ (’êš)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 784: A fire

the wicked
רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים (rə·šā·‘îm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 7563: Wrong, an, bad person

will perish
יֹאבְד֥וּ (yō·ḇə·ḏū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 6: To wander away, lose oneself, to perish

in the presence
מִפְּנֵ֥י (mip·pə·nê)
Preposition-m | Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

of God.
אֱלֹהִֽים׃ (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative


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OT Poetry: Psalm 68:2 As smoke is driven away so drive (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 68:1
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