Psalms 92:7

92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,

and all the evildoers glisten, ¹ 

it is so that they may be annihilated. ² 

Job 14:2

14:2 He grows up ³  like a flower and then withers away; ⁴ 

he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ⁵ 

Matthew 6:30

6:30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, ⁶  which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, ⁷  won’t he clothe you even more, ⁸  you people of little faith?

¹ tn Or “flourish.”

² tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”

³ tn Heb יָצָא (yatsa’, “comes forth”). The perfect verb expresses characteristic action and so is translated by the present tense (see GKC 329 §111.s).

⁴ tn The verb וַיִּמָּל (vayyimmal) is from the root מָלַל (malal, “to languish; to wither”) and not from a different root מָלַל (malal, “to cut off”).

⁵ tn The verb is “and he does not stand.” Here the verb means “to stay fixed; to abide.” The shadow does not stay fixed, but continues to advance toward darkness.

⁶ tn Grk “grass of the field.”

⁷ tn Grk “into the oven.” The expanded translation “into the fire to heat the oven” has been used to avoid misunderstanding; most items put into modern ovens are put there to be baked, not burned.

⁸ sn The phrase even more is a typical form of rabbinic argumentation, from the lesser to the greater. If God cares for the little things, surely he will care for the more important things.