Psalms 90:6
in Psalms 90in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
KJV
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
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This verse in Psalms 90
Commentary
13 notes on this verseIn the morning let it pass like grass, in the morning let it flower and pass away: in the evening let it fall, harden, and wither. O the mysteries of the Scriptures! In the morning let it pass like grass. Our Lord and Savior also speaks in the Gospel about the hay, which springs up in one day and withers in one day.
This site's exposition
You return man to dust
on Psalms 90:3-6
Verse 3 sends man back to dust, and Genesis 3:19 says the same, to dust you shall return. A thousand years measure out as one day in verse 4, and 2 Peter 3:8 says it both ways round. The grass is up at dawn and withered by evening.
This site's exposition
in the morning it springs up new
Albert Barnes noted that new here repeats the Hebrew word that closes verse 5, and that the whole span is a single day. Charles Spurgeon traced the history of the grass in one line: sown, grown, blown, mown, gone. He said the history of man is little more.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"In the evening," it means after they come, "let it fall, and be dried up, and withered" [Psalm 90:6]. It is "to fall" in death, be "dried up" in the corpse, "withered" in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein is the accursed lust of fleshly things? "For all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of the Lord abideth for ever."
Their years shall be counted as nothing. What he says is this: since man from the beginning of the world lived nearly a thousand years, and a thousand years before God are as a watch in the night. Nay, I have said enough: the ages of men are as nothing in comparison with the divine eternity. Do you wish to know more fully how human life is nothing? Hear what follows. In the morning let it pass like grass. As the morning dew passes swiftly, so is the life of men. Our morning is youth. In the morning let it flower and pass. In youth and full age we flowered, but in old age we fall down, and the flower of our strength has withered. For which of us knows how our age passes by? While we scarcely know it, old age steals up on us from behind. In the evening let it fall, harden, and grow dry. Our evening is old age, which, when the flower of youth has been shaken off, is hardened by the manifold horror of diseases. "For all flesh indeed is grass, and its glory is as the flower of grass: it withered and fell; but the word of the Lord abides forever." We still live, and part of us has already perished in old age: though the mind is the same, yet we who feel that we have lost the vigor of our former youth are in a manner become other men.
"In the evening," it means after they come, "let it fall, and be dried up, and withered" [Psalm 90:6]. It is "to fall" in death, be "dried up" in the corpse, "withered" in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein is the accursed lust of fleshly things? "For all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of the Lord abideth for ever."
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Adam passed over from truth to vanity. "A phantom only, man goes his ways; like vapor only are his restless pursuits; he heaps up stores, and knows not who will use them. — The next morning they are like the changing grass, which at dawn …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up,....
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Let us pray for the true satisfaction and happiness which are to be had only in the favour and mercy of God, Ps. iv. A gracious soul, if it may but be satisfied of God's lovingkindness, will be satisfied with it, abundantly satisfied, will take up with that, and will take up with nothing short of it. Two things are pleaded to enforce this petition for God's mercy:-- 1.
But here he teaches the people of Israel to confess before God that righteous sentence of death which they were under in a special manner, and which by their sins they had brought upon themselves. Their share in the common lot of mortality was not enough, but they are, and must live and die, under peculiar tokens of God's displeasure.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up. Blooming with abounding beauty till the meadows are all besprent with gems, the grass has a golden hour, even as man in his youth has a heyday of flowery glory. In the evening it is cut down, and withereth. The scythe ends the blossoming of the field flowers, and the dews at flight weep their fall. Here is the history of the grass—sown, grown, blown, mown, gone; and the history of man is not much more.
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up. Blooming with abounding beauty till the meadows are all besprent with gems, the grass has a golden hour, even as man in his youth has a heyday of flowery glory. In the evening it is cut down, and withereth. The scythe ends the blossoming of the field flowers, and the dews at flight weep their fall. Here is the history of the grass—sown, grown, blown, mown, gone; and the history of man is not much more. Natural decay would put an end both to us and the grass in due time; few, however, are left to experience the full result of age, for death comes with his scythe, and removes our life in the midst of its verdure. How great a change in how short a time! The morning saw the blooming, and the evening sees the withering.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
In the morning it flourisheth - This does not mean that it grows with any special vigor or rapidity in the morning, as if that were illustrative of the rapid growth of the young; but merely that, in fact, in the morning it is green and vigorous, and is cut down in the short course of a day, or before evening. The reference here is to grass as an emblem of man. And groweth up - The same word in the Hebrew which is used in the close of the previous verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּ֭בֹּקֶר | baboker | in the morning | H1242 → | 214 times |
| יָצִ֣יץ | yatzitz | it flourishes | H6692 → | 9 times |
| וְחָלָ֑ף | vechalaf | and it sprouts up | H2498 → | 28 times |
| לָ֝עֶ֗רֶב | laerev | to the evening | H6153 → | 134 times |
| יְמוֹלֵ֥ל | yemolel | it withers | H4135 → | 37 times |
| וְיָבֵֽשׁ׃ | veyavesh | and it dries up | H3001 → | 59 times |
בַּ֭בֹּקֶרin the morning
babokerH1242 →214 times
יָצִ֣יץit flourishes
yatzitzH6692 →9 times
וְחָלָ֑ףand it sprouts up
vechalafH2498 →28 times
לָ֝עֶ֗רֶבto the evening
laerevH6153 →134 times
יְמוֹלֵ֥לit withers
yemolelH4135 →37 times
וְיָבֵֽשׁ׃and it dries up
veyaveshH3001 →59 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 14:2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:24
For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 40:6–8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
- Job 8:9
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Psalms 103:15–16
As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- 1 Peter 1:24
Through
Matthew 6:30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
it leads to
- Luke 12:28
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith!
- Matthew 14:31
Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
- Luke 12:28
Through
Psalms 92:7that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:38
But the transgressors will all be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.
- Psalms 37:38
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 90; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 19, on Psalm 89; Jerome, Homily 67, on Psalm 89 (Alternate Series); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.