The Lord uses an image, well-known to the people, of someone separating the wheat from the chaff by tossing both up into the air so that the wind blows the chaff away. In judgment the Lord has used foreign invaders and has bereaved
his people, even destroyed
them. The metaphor of the winnowing fork describes the close scrutiny and separation as their foreign conquerors determine their fate: "who will be slain, who will be permitted to stay, who will be taken away”.1 It is of course the Lord himself who is the true winnower, sifting his people in judgment. But not even these disasters caused the nation to turn back to him. The people simply would not hear the warning and repent.
7 Je les vanne avec le vent aux portes du pays; Je prive d'enfants, je fais périr mon peuple, Qui ne s'est pas détourné de ses voies.