Psalms 90:5-9

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ¹ 

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

90:6 in the morning it glistens ²  and sprouts up;

at evening time it withers ³  and dries up.

90:7 Yes, ⁴  we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

90:8 You are aware of our sins; ⁵ 

you even know about our hidden sins. ⁶ 

90:9 Yes, ⁷  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ⁸ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ⁹ 

Psalms 92:7

92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,

and all the evildoers glisten, ¹⁰ 

it is so that they may be annihilated. ¹¹ 

Psalms 92:12

92:12 The godly ¹²  grow like a palm tree;

they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon. ¹³ 

Psalms 103:15-16

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

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind ¹⁵  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

Isaiah 40:6-8

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ¹⁶  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ¹⁷  “All people are like grass, ¹⁸ 

and all their promises ¹⁹  are like the flowers in the field.

40:7 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

when the wind sent by the Lord ²⁰  blows on them.

Surely humanity ²¹  is like grass.

40:8 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

but the decree of our God is forever reliable.” ²² 

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. ²³  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. ²⁴  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

James 4:14

4:14 You ²⁵  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ²⁶  For you are a puff of smoke ²⁷  that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ²⁸  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²⁹  from your passions that battle inside you? ³⁰ 

James 1:24

1:24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets ³¹  what sort of person he was.

[90:5]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[90:7]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[90:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.

[90:9]  ⁷ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “we finish our years like a sigh.” In Ezek 2:10 the word הֶגֶה (hegeh) elsewhere refers to a grumbling or moaning sound. Here a brief sigh or moan is probably in view. If so, the simile pictures one’s lifetime as transient. Another option is that the simile alludes to the weakness that characteristically overtakes a person at the end of one’s lifetime. In this case the phrase could be translated, “we end our lives with a painful moan.”

[92:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “flourish.”

[92:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”

[92:12]  ¹² tn The singular is used in a representative sense, with the typical godly person being in view.

[92:12]  ¹³ sn The cedars of the Lebanon forest were well-known in ancient Israel for their immense size.

[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.

[103:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:8]  ²² 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).

[1:10]  ²³ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[4:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ²⁷ tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).

[4:1]  ²⁸ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[1:24]  ³¹ tn Grk “and he has gone out and immediately has forgotten.”