Psalms 90:6 · Bible study
Psalms 90:6 Commentary: The Grass That Springs and Withers
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
An exegetical study of Psalm 90:6, exploring the grass metaphor for human transience under God's eternity, with commentary from Barnes, Calvin, and Gill.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The verse compares human life to grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening, illustrating life's brevity under God's eternal sovereignty.
- Key words: Morning (בֹּקֶר), sprouts/passes (חָלַף), withers (יְמוֹלֵל), dries up (יָבֵשׁ), evening (עֶרֶב).
- Main debate: The psalm's authorship (traditional Mosaic vs. later composition) and whether the focus is on universal human mortality or the specific judgment on Israel in the wilderness.
- Theological theme: Human transience under God's eternal nature; the call to wisdom and dependence on divine mercy.
- Best use: To remind believers of life's shortness and to turn their hearts toward God for grace and the gift of wisdom.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.
WEB World English Bible 2000
In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.
KJV King James Version 1769
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
In the morning it flourisheth, and hath changed, At evening it is cut down, and hath withered.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
En la mañana florece y crece; á la tarde es cortada, y se seca.
De madrugada floresce, e brota; à tarde é cortada, e se seca.
Elle fleurit le matin, et elle passe,
das da frühe blüht und bald welk wird und des Abends abgehauen wird und verdorrt.
In den morgenstond bloeit het, en het verandert; des avonds wordt het afgesneden, en het verdort.
la mattina essa fiorisce e verdeggia, la sera è segata e si secca.
Z poranku kwitnie i rośnie; ale w wieczór bywa pokoszona, i usycha.
язвы, ходящей во мраке, заразы, опустошающей в полдень.
早晨 發芽 生長，晚上 割下 枯乾。
In the morning it is green; in the evening it is cut down, and becomes dry.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 90:6
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse uses the image of grass to highlight the brevity of human life. Barnes notes that the morning flourishing and evening withering illustrate “how often it is literally true that those who are strong, healthy, and vigorous in the morning are at night pale, cold, and speechless in death.” Gill explains that man's life “is represented but as one day, consisting of a morning and an evening, which signifies the bloom and decline of life.” Keil and Delitzsch draw attention to the Hebrew verb חָלַף (to pass, to sprout again), which suggests the quick succession of generations. The consensus is clear: under God's eternal perspective, human life is as transient as grass that flourishes only for the span of a single day.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The verse uses the grass metaphor to contrast the swiftness of human life with God's eternal nature, calling for a response of wisdom and dependence on God.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Authorship of the Psalm | The psalm is traditionally attributed to Moses, and ancient Jewish and Christian sources accept this ascription. | Some modern scholars question Mosaic authorship, seeing the language and theology as reflecting a later period, possibly the exile. Both camps agree the psalm is ancient and carries the weight of Moses’ voice in Israel’s worship. |
| Interpretation of the Grass Metaphor | All major commentators agree that the grass represents the brevity and frailty of human life under God's sovereign control. | Some (e.g., Gill, Barnes) emphasize the universal human condition; others (Calvin, Matthew Henry) link it specifically to Israel's experience of God's wrath in the wilderness. The metaphor works for both readings. |
| The Role of God’s Wrath | The surrounding context (vv. 3-10) connects mortality to divine judgment against sin. | Reformed traditions (Calvin, Gill) highlight wrath as the driving force behind life's shortness, while other readings focus on the natural result of the fall. All agree that the solution is found in God's mercy (vv. 13-17). |
| Connection to the Prayer for Wisdom in Verse 12 | Verse 6 leads directly to the petition for wisdom, recognizing life’s brevity is the starting point for a wise heart. | No significant disagreement; the flow of thought from mortality to wisdom is accepted by all traditions. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The psalm is traditionally attributed to Moses, “the man of God,” and is set against the backdrop of Israel's wilderness wanderings. Calvin observes that Moses here treats “the brevity and miseries of human life, as well as the punishments inflicted upon the people of Israel.” The surrounding verses (3, 10) emphasize God's wrath against sin: “We are consumed in your anger” (v.7). In this context, the grass image is not merely philosophical, it carries the weight of judgment. The generation that left Egypt was condemned to die in the wilderness, a constant daily reminder of life's fragility. The morning and evening cycle echoes the daily gathering of manna (Exodus 16), which also perished by the end of the day if hoarded, teaching dependence on God. The metaphor of grass was common in ancient poetry (Job 14:2; Psalms 103:15, 16) and is taken up by the New Testament in James 1:11 and Matthew 6:30. The psalmist uses this familiar image to ground a prayer for wisdom: “Teach us to number our days” (v.12).
Textual Notes
The consulted commentaries note no significant textual variants for Psalm 90:6. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts. It is worth observing that the KJV and ASV supply the phrase “is cut down,” which is not present in the Hebrew verbs (יְמוֹלֵל, “it withers,” and יָבֵשׁ, “it dries up”). This appears to be an interpretive addition by some translators, not a textual variant, and most modern translations (WEB, BSB) follow the Hebrew more closely.
Reception History
This verse has been used throughout Christian history as a vivid sermon on mortality. The image of grass echoing Isaiah 40:6-8 was taken up by the apostles Peter (1 Peter 1:24) and James (James 1:11) to teach the fragility of human glory. In the liturgy, Psalm 90 has been read at funerals and on Ash Wednesday, reminding worshippers that they are dust. The reformers, especially Calvin, used the verse to underscore total dependence on grace, since life is so brief, every moment is a gift. In the Eastern tradition, the psalm is part of the Midnight Office, a daily call to remember death and seek mercy.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Morning of Life: The grass sprouts and flourishes in the morning, youth, vigor, and promise.
- The Evening of Life: By evening the same grass is withered and dry, decline, loss, and death.
- The God Outside Time: In contrast to this fleeting grass, God is “from everlasting to everlasting” (v.2), and that contrast becomes the foundation for wisdom (v.12).
Five-point outline
- The brevity of life: a single day from morning to evening.
- The certainty of death: the grass is cut down and withers.
- The futility of self-reliance: all human strength and beauty fades like grass.
- The weight of God's wrath: the psalm frames this mortality as a consequence of sin (v.7-8).
- The call to wisdom: numbering our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Illustration hooks
- A lawn that is lush in the cool morning but turns brown and brittle by late afternoon after a scorching day. The change feels sudden, almost invisible while it happens.
- Cut flowers arranged in a vase: beautiful at breakfast, drooping by dinner. The same flower that brought joy becomes a sign of passing time.
- A family photograph from years ago, the children are grown, some people in the picture are gone. The snapshot captures a morning that has already turned to evening.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does life feel so short, especially when we are dealing with hardship and suffering?
- If our time is this brief, what should we actually spend it on?
- How can I hold on to hope when every day I am reminded of my mortality?
Leading a Discussion
This verse is the hinge of Psalm 90. After declaring God's eternity and the swiftness of human life, the psalmist uses the image of morning grass and evening withering to drive home our mortality. The point is not despair, it is the beginning of wisdom.
Discussion questions
- What does the grass in this verse represent? How does the morning-evening cycle shape the metaphor?
- Read verses 1-6 together. How does the description of God in verses 1-2 set up the contrast in verse 6?
- The Hebrew verb חָלַף can mean both “to pass away” and “to sprout again.” How does that double meaning affect your understanding of the verse?
- What emotions does this verse stir in you? Fear? Gratitude? Urgency? Why?
- How does the New Testament use this same grass imagery in James 1:11 and Matthew 6:30? What do those passages add to the meaning?
- Verse 12 concludes: “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” How does the reality of life's brevity actually produce wisdom rather than panic?
- How can this verse help you pray differently this week? What would you say to God after reading it?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Job 14:2 | He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue. |
| Psalms 92:7 | though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. |
| Matthew 6:30 | But 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? |
| James 1:11 | For 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 the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
6 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes clarifies that the point is not about grass growing quickly in the morning, but about its sudden change from green to withered within a single day. This rapid shift, he argues, pictures how a person vigorous at dawn can be dead by night.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin reads this psalm as deliberately moving from God’s special grace to Israel, through the misery and judgment all humans face, to a closing prayer for mercy. He sees this order as Moses’ way of giving the faithful comfort before they confront their own frailty.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible Schools highlights three confessions bundled in the verse: God is Israel’s refuge, the only eternal being, and the absolute ruler over human life. The note also points out that “cut down” can be translated “fadeth,” linking the image to a withering plant.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva notes highlight the stark brevity of human life by compressing its entire cycle into a single day. Morning brings growth and flourishing, but by evening the same life is already cut down and withered. The contrast is not gradual decline but sudden reversal: what thrives is immediately taken.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill sees the comparison of human life to grass as compressing a whole lifespan into a single day. The morning stands for youth, beauty, and growth, while the evening represents old age and death. He clarifies that the withering comes naturally from being cut down, not from the sun's heat.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry emphasizes that God Himself, not any physical location, served as the dwelling place and refuge for His people across every generation. Even in Egyptian bondage or Canaanite pilgrimage, God was their true home and rest. This plea appeals to God's past faithfulness under His displeasure.