In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers.
Parallel translations
- WEB In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.
- KJV In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
- BSB in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.
- NASB In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it wilts and withers away.
- NLT In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered.
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
Like grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening, human life is brief and fading.
Overview
Continuing verse 5, the grass that springs up at dawn is dry by nightfall, a vivid image of mortality. A human lifetime, however vigorous, fades fast. This brevity heightens the longing for the eternal life that endures, found only in Christ (John 11:25-26).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 14:2He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
- Ps 92:7though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
- Matt 6:30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
- Jas 1:11For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 90:6 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.