You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
- BSB You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
- NKJV You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
- NASB You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass that sprouts anew.
- NLT You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning.
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
God sweeps human lives away like a flood; they are as fleeting as grass that sprouts at dawn.
Overview
Human life is pictured as swept off in death and as quickly-growing grass. The imagery stresses both God's power and life's transience. Such frailty drives us to seek the imperishable life God gives in Christ (1 Pet. 1:24-25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 40:6The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
- Ps 73:20As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
- Job 22:16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
- 1 Pet 1:24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;
- Ps 103:15–16As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
- Job 27:20–21Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night.
- Job 20:8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
- Isa 29:7–8The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
- Job 9:26They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
- Isa 8:7–8now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.
- Jas 1:10–11and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
- Jer 46:7–8“Who is this who rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 90:5 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.