The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
- KJV The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
- ESV The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
- NKJV The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
- NASB The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
- NLT The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Though grass and flowers fade, the word of God endures forever, offering a sure and lasting hope.
Overview
This verse turns from human frailty to divine permanence: God's word stands unchanging through every generation. Israel could trust the promises of comfort and restoration precisely because the One who spoke them never fails. The New Testament identifies this enduring word with the gospel preached in Christ (1 Peter 1:25), the message that brings eternal life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mark 13:31Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- 1 Pet 1:25but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.
- Ps 119:89–91Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens.
- Matt 5:18For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
- Isa 55:10–11For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
- Isa 46:10–11I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- John 10:35If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—
- Isa 59:21“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.
- Zech 1:6But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
- John 12:34The crowd replied, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever. So how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
- Rom 3:1–3What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 40:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.