Isaiah 40:6-8

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ¹  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ²  “All people are like grass, ³ 

and all their promises ⁴  are like the flowers in the field.

40:7 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

when the wind sent by the Lord ⁵  blows on them.

Surely humanity ⁶  is like grass.

40:8 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

but the decree of our God is forever reliable.” ⁷ 

Psalms 37:2

37:2 For they will quickly dry up like grass,

and wither away like plants. ⁸ 

Psalms 90:5-6

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ⁹ 

In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;

90:6 in the morning it glistens ¹⁰  and sprouts up;

at evening time it withers ¹¹  and dries up.

Psalms 92:7

92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,

and all the evildoers glisten, ¹² 

it is so that they may be annihilated. ¹³ 

Psalms 103:15

103:15 A person’s life is like grass. ¹⁴ 

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

Psalms 129:6

129:6 May they be like the grass on the rooftops

which withers before one can even pull it up, ¹⁵ 

James 1:10-11

1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. ¹⁶  1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ¹⁷  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

James 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ¹⁸  a slave ¹⁹  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ²⁰  Greetings!

James 1:24

1:24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets ²¹  what sort of person he was.

[40:6]  ¹ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ² tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ³ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[40:7]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruakh yehvah), which in this context probably does not refer to the Lord’s personal Spirit. The phrase is better translated “the breath of the Lord,” or “the wind of [i.e., sent by] the Lord.” The Lord’s sovereign control over nature, including the hot desert winds that dry up vegetation, is in view here (cf. Ps 147:18; Isa 59:19).

[40:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “but the word of our God stands forever.” In this context the divine “word” specifically refers to his decreed promise assuring Jerusalem that her suffering is over and his glorious return imminent (vv. 1-5).

[37:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “like green vegetation.”

[90:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “you bring them to an end [with] sleep.” The Hebrew verb זָרַם (zaram) has traditionally been taken to mean “flood” or “overwhelm” (note the Polel form of a root זרם in Ps 77:17, where the verb is used of the clouds pouring down rain). However, the verb form here is Qal, not Polel, and is better understood as a homonym meaning “to make an end [of life].” The term שֵׁנָה (shenah, “sleep”) can be taken as an adverbial accusative; it is a euphemism here for death (see Ps 76:5-6).

[90:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “flourishes.” The verb is used of a crown shining in Ps 132:18. Perhaps here in Ps 90:6 it refers to the glistening of the grass in the morning dew.

[90:6]  ¹¹ tn The Polel form of this verb occurs only here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a Qal (which necessitates eliminating the final lamed [ל] as dittographic). See Ps 37:2.

[92:7]  ¹² tn Or “flourish.”

[92:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”

[103:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.

[129:6]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁלַף (shalaf) normally means “to draw [a sword]” or “to pull.” BDB 1025 s.v. suggests the meaning “to shoot up” here, but it is more likely that the verb here means “to pluck; to pull up,” a nuance attested for this word in later Hebrew and Aramaic (see Jastrow 1587 s.v. שָׁלַף).

[1:10]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[1:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[1:24]  ²¹ tn Grk “and he has gone out and immediately has forgotten.”