Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 90:5
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning [they are] like grass [which] groweth up.
5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood ] A single word in the Heb. suffices to draw the picture. Man is compared to a building swept away by a sudden burst of rain such as is common in the East. Cp. Isa 28:2; Isa 30:30; Mat 7:25; Mat 7:27.
they are as a sleep ] As those who are asleep. Or, they fall asleep, in the sleep of death. Cp. Psa 76:6; Jer 51:39; Jer 51:57; Nah 3:18.
in the morning &c.] Another figure for the transitoriness of human life, developed in Psa 90:6. Cp. Psa 103:15-16; Job 14:2; Isa 40:6 ff. Its significance depends on the peculiar character of some of the grasses in Palestine. “The grasses of the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea basin are very peculiar, seldom becoming turf-like, or compact in growth, shooting up in early spring with the greatest luxuriance, and then as rapidly seeding and dying down, scorched and burnt up at once, and leaving for the rest of the year no other trace of their existence than the straggling stems from which the seeds and their sheath have long been shaken.” Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 453.
The P.B.V. follows the LXX, Vulg., and Jer. in its rendering, and fade away suddenly like the grass. The verb may mean to pass away as well as to grow or shoot up, but it must clearly have the same meaning in both verses, and Psa 90:6 appears to be decisive for the latter meaning. Some commentators indeed render passes away in both verses, but the sense in the morning it flourishes and passes away is unsatisfactory. The double rendering dried up and withered in P.B.V. comes down through the Vulg. from the LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou carriest them away as with a flood – The original here is a single verb with the suffix – zerametam. The verb – zaram – means, to flow, to pour; then, to pour upon, to overwhelm, to wash away. The idea is, that they were swept off as if a torrent bore them from the earth, carrying them away without regard to order, rank, age, or condition. So death makes no discrimination. Every day that passes, multitudes of every age, sex, condition, rank, are swept away and consigned to the grave – as they would be if a raging flood should sweep over a land.
They are as a sleep – The original here is, a sleep they are. The whole sentence is exceedingly graphic and abrupt: Thou sweepest them away; a sleep they are – in the morning – like grass – it passes away. The idea is that human life resembles a sleep, because it seems to pass so swiftly; to accomplish so little; to be so filled with dreams and visions, none of which remain or become permanent.
In the morning they are like grass which groweth up – A better translation of this would be to attach the words in the morning to the previous member of the sentence, They are like sleep in the morning; that is, They are as sleep appears to us in the morning, when we wake from it – rapid, unreal, full of empty dreams. The other part of the sentence then would be, Like grass, it passeth away. The word rendered groweth up, is in the margin translated is changed. The Hebrew word – chalaph – means to pass, to pass along, to pass by; to pass on, to come on; also, to revive or flourish as a plant; and then, to change. It may be rendered here, pass away; and the idea then would be that they are like grass in the fields, or like flowers, which soon change by passing away. There is nothing more permanent in man than there is in the grass or in the flowers of the field.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 90:5
Thou carriest them away as with a flood.
The devastating ravages of death
The Israelites had not yet witnessed the swellings of Jordan, through which, by their Makers presence and power, they were to pass dry-shod; but they had witnessed–and never could they forget,–the watery ramparts of the Red Sea, where, rejoicing in their God, they walked through the flood on foot, which the Egyptians essaying to do, were drowned. And while standing safe and victorious on the opposite shore, full of recollections of the country which they had left, they can contrast the regular, pacific, fertilizing flood of Egypts river with the sudden and overwhelming inundation their eyes now behold, that awful flood which carries away their foes, when Pharaoh and his chosen captains, and their chariots and horsemen, and all their multitude are, in a moment, covered by the depths, and sink into the bottom like a stone; yea, the flood covers them, they sink as lead in the mighty waters.
1. The general idea intended to be conveyed by the phraseology before us is–destruction, fell, certain destruction, for such is the invariable consequence of a flood like that which is here supposed.
2. Such is the general idea intended by the phraseology before us; but connected with this, there are several special and subordinate ideas, which seem descriptive of some of the accompaniments of that visitation of Providence which is here referred to.
(1) The destruction caused by a flood is sudden. And this is a circumstance which adds, in no small degree, to the terrors of such a scene.
(2) The destruction which is caused by a flood is as indiscriminate as it is sudden. Wherever the flood spreads, it leaves some traces of its ravages. Like death, it has no respect of persons or property. It will enter kings palaces as readily as the hovels of the poor; it will assail the crowded streets and densely-peopled lanes of a city equally with the lonely tenants of the sequestered vale. And it is no less indiscriminating as to the victims whom it engulphs. On it rushes with undistinguishing and resistless speed, passing by none upon its course, pitying none, sparing none.
(3) There is this other peculiarity in the ravages of a flood, like that which is here supposed, viz. that in its progress it is irresistibly powerful. So long as the fury of the torrent lasts, human skill and human prudence are altogether futile.
3. Now, if you combine together these different ideas, viz. that a flood presents the imago of certain destruction–that in its approach it is sudden–in its ravages indiscriminate–in its progress irresistible, you will perceive with what propriety it is here employed as an emblem of death. (N. Morren, M.A.)
Like grass which groweth up.—
Like grass which groweth up
1. It is in vain to seek for a paradise or a home in this poor, delusive world.
2. After all, we ought not to weep too much over the vanity of life. Human life answers the purpose for which it was given. What Christian would consent to take up with earth and be for ever exiled from heaven? It is an infinite privilege that a good man may die.
3. It ought not to be a ground of despondency to good men that they are growing old and beginning to decay, and drawing rapidly towards a termination of their course. Death will not swallow up all. There is a land above the stars and joys above his power.
4. The delusive and fleeting nature of all terrestrial things, and the afflictions which are largely mingled with them, ought to make us long more earnestly after heaven. When we cannot find here a place on which to rest the sole of our foot, it ought to endear to us the thought of our eternal home.
5. The shortness of life and the unsatisfying and perplexing nature of all that it has to bestow, ought to stir us up to diligence in the proper business for which it was given us. (E. D. Griffin, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood] Life is compared to a stream, ever gliding away; but sometimes it is as a mighty torrent, when by reason of plague, famine, or war, thousands are swept away daily. In particular cases it is a rapid stream, when the young are suddenly carried off by consumptions, fevers, c. this is the flower that flourisheth in the morning, and in the evening is cut down and withered. The whole of life is like a sleep or as a dream. The eternal world is real; all here is either shadowy or representative. On the whole, life is represented as a stream; youth, as morning; decline of life, or old age, as evening; death, as sleep; and the resurrection as the return of the flowers in spring. All these images appear in these curious and striking verses, Ps 90:3-6.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Them, i.e. mankind, of whom he spake, Psa 90:8.
As with a flood; unexpectedly, violently and irresistibly, universally, without exception or distinction.
As a sleep; short and vain, as sleep is, and not minded till it be past. Or like a dream, when a man sleepeth, wherein there may be some real pleasure, but never any satisfaction; or some real trouble, but very inconsiderable, and seldom or never pernicious. Even such an idle and insignificant thing is human life considered in itself, without respect to a future state, in which there is but a mere shadow or dream of felicity, only the calamities attending upon it are more real and weighty.
Which groweth up, Heb. which is changed, either, first, for the worse, which passeth away, as some render the word; which having generally affirmed here, he may seem more particularly to explain in the next verse: or rather, secondly, for the better, as this word is sometimes used, as Job 14:7; Isa 40:31, which sprouteth out of the earth, and groweth more apparent, and green, and flourishing. And this interpretation is confirmed from the next verse, where this same word is used in this sense; where also
the morning is again mentioned, and that as the time, not of its decay, but of its flourishing.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5, 6. Life is like grass, which,though changing under the influence of the night’s dew, andflourishing in the morning, is soon cut down and withereth (Psa 103:15;1Pe 1:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou carriest them away as with a flood,…. As the whole world of the ungodly were with the deluge, to which perhaps the allusion is; the phrase is expressive of death; so the Targum,
“if they are not converted, thou wilt bring death upon them;”
the swiftness of time is aptly signified by the flowing gliding stream of a flood, by the rolling billows and waves of it; so one hour, one day, one month, one year, roll on after another: moreover, the suddenness of death may be here intended, which comes in an hour unlooked for, and unaware of, as a flood comes suddenly, occasioned by hasty showers of rain; as also the irresistible force and power of it, which none can withstand; of which the rapidity of a flood is a lively emblem, and which carries all before it, and sweeps away everything that stands in its course; as death, by an epidemic and infectious disease, or in a battle, carries off thousands and ten thousands in a very little time; nor does it spare any, as a flood does not, of any age or sex, of any rank or condition of life; and, like a flood, makes sad destruction and devastation where it comes, and especially where it takes off great numbers; it not only turns beauty to ashes, and strength into weakness and corruption, but depopulates towns, and cities, and kingdoms; and as the flowing flood and gliding stream can never be fetched back again, so neither can life when past, not one moment of time when gone; see 2Sa 14:14, besides this phrase may denote the turbulent and tempestuous manner in which, sometimes, wicked men go out of the world, a storm being within and without, as in
Job 27:20, “they are as a sleep”; or dream, which soon passeth away; in a sound sleep, time is insensibly gone; and a dream, before it can be well known what it is, is over and lost in oblivion; and so short is human life, Job 20:8 there may be, sometimes, a seeming pleasure enjoyed, as in dreams, but no satisfaction; as a man in sleep may dream that he is eating and drinking, and please himself with it; but, when he awakes, he is hungry and empty, and unsatisfied; and so is man with everything in this life,
Isa 29:8, and all things in life are a mere dream, as the honours, riches, and pleasures of it; a man rather dreams of honour, substance, and pleasure, than really enjoys them. Wicked men, while they live, are “as those that sleep”; as the Targum renders it; they have no spiritual senses, cannot see, hear, smell, taste, nor feel; they are without strength to everything that is spiritually good; inactive, and do none; are subject to illusions and mistakes; are in imminent danger, and unconcerned about it; and do not care to be jogged or awaked, and sleep on till they sleep the sleep of death, unless awaked by powerful and efficacious grace; and men when dead are asleep, not in their souls, but in their bodies; death is often in Scripture signified by a sleep, under which men continue until the resurrection, which is an awaking out of it:
in the morning they are like grass, which groweth up or “passeth away”, or “changeth” d; or is changed; some understand this of the morning of the resurrection, when there will be a change for the better, a renovation, as Kimchi interprets the word; and which, from the use of it in the Arabic language, as Schultens observes e, signifies to be green and flourishing, as grass in the morning is; and so intends a recovery of rigour and strength, as a man after sleep, and as the saints will have when raised from the dead. The Targum refers it to the world to come,
“and in the world to come, as grass is cut down, they shall be changed or renewed;”
but it is rather to be understood of the flourishing of men in the morning of youth, as the next verse shows, where it is repeated, and where the change of grass is beautifully illustrated and explained.
d “quae mutatur”, Pagninus; “mutabitur”, Montanus; “immutatur”, Tigurine version; “transiens”, Junius Tremellius “quae transit”, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis. e Animadv. in Job, p. 34.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Psa 90:5-6 tell us how great is the distance between men and this eternal selfsameness of God. The suffix of , referred to the thousand years, produces a synallage (since is feminine), which is to be avoided whenever it is possible to do so; the reference to , as being the principal object pointed to in what has gone before, is the more natural, to say the very least. In connection with both ways of applying it, does not signify: to cause to rattle down like sudden heavy showers of rain; for the figure that God makes years, or that He makes men (Hitzig: the germs of their coming into being), to rain down from above, is fanciful and strange. may also mean to sweep or wash away as with heavy rains, abripere instar nimbi , as the old expositors take it. So too Luther at one time: Du reyssest sie dahyn (Thou carriest them away), for which he substituted later: Du lessest sie dahin faren wie einen Strom (Thou causest them to pass away as a river); but always signifies rain pouring down from above. As a sudden and heavy shower of rain, becoming a flood, washes everything away, so God’s omnipotence sweeps men away. There is now no transition to another alien figure when the poet continues: . What is meant is the sleep of death, Psa 76:6, , Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57, cf. Psa 13:4. He whom a flood carries away is actually brought into a state of unconsciousness, he goes entirely to sleep, i.e., he dies.
From this point the poet certainly does pass on to another figure. The one generation is carried away as by a flood in the night season, and in the morning another grows up. Men are the subject of , as of . The collective singular alternates with the plural, just as in Psa 90:3 the collective alternates with . The two members of Psa 90:5 stand in contrast. The poet describes the succession of the generations. One generation perishes as it were in a flood, and another grows up, and this also passes on to the same fate. The meaning in both verses of the , which has been for the most part, after the lxx, Vulgate, and Luther, erroneously taken to be praeterire = interire , is determined in accordance with this idea. The general signification of this verb, which corresponds to the Arabic chlf , is “to follow or move after, to go into the place of another, and in general, of passing over from one place or state into another.” Accordingly the Hiphil signifies to put into a new condition, Psa 102:27, to set a new thing on the place of an old one, Isa 9:9 [10], to gain new strength, to take fresh courage, Isa 40:31; Isa 41:1; and of plants: to send forth new shoots, Job 14:7; consequently the Kal, which frequently furnishes the perfect for the future Hiphil (Ew. 127, b, and Hitzig on this passage), of plants signifies: to gain new shoots, not: to sprout (Targum, Syriac), but to sprout again or afresh, regerminare ; cf. Arab. chilf , an aftergrowth, new wood. Perishing humanity renews its youth in ever new generations. Psa 90:6 again takes up this thought: in the morning it grows up and shoots afresh, viz., the grass to which men are likened (a figure appropriated by Isa. 40), in the evening it is cut down and it dries up. Others translate to wither (root , properly to be long and lax, to allow to hang down long, cf. , with Arab. ‘ml , to hope, i.e., to look forth into the distance); but (1) this Pilel of or Poel of is not favourable to this intransitive way of taking it; (2) the reflexive in Psa 58:8 proves that signifies to cut off in the front or above, after which perhaps even Psa 37:2, Job 14:2; Job 18:16, by comparison with Job 24:24, are to be explained. In the last passage it runs: as the top of the stalk they are cut off ( fut. Niph. of ). Such a cut or plucked ear of corn is called in Deu 23:25 , a Deuteronomic hapaxlegomenon which favours our way of taking the (with a most general subject = ). Thus, too, is better attached to what precedes: the cut grass becomes parched hay. Just such an alternation of morning springing froth and evening drying up is the alternation of the generations of men.
The poet substantiates this in Psa 90:7. from the experience of those amongst whom he comprehended himself in the of Psa 90:1, Hengstenberg takes Psa 90:7 to be a statement of the cause of the transitoriness set forth: its cause is the wrath of God; but the poet does not begin but . The chief emphasis therefore lies upon the perishing, and is not argumentative but explicative. If the subject of were men in general (Olshausen), then it would be elucidating idem per idem. But, according to Psa 90:1, those who speak here are those whose refuge the Eternal One is. The poet therefore speaks in the name of the church, and confirms the lot of men from that which his people have experienced even down to the present time. Israel is able out of its own experience to corroborate what all men pass through; it has to pass through the very same experience as a special decree of God’s wrath on account of its sins. Therefore in Psa 90:7-8 we stand altogether upon historical ground. The testimony of the inscription is here verified in the contents of the Psalm. The older generation that came out of Egypt fell a prey to the sentence of punishment, that they should gradually die off during the forty years’ journey through the desert; and even Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb only excepted, were included in this punishment on special grounds, Num 14:26., Deu 1:34-39. This it is over which Moses here laments. God’s wrath is here called and ; just as the Book of Deuteronomy (in distinction from the other books of the Pentateuch) is fond of combining these two synonyms (Deu 9:19; Deu 29:22, Deu 29:27, cf. Gen 27:44.). The breaking forth of the infinitely great opposition of the holy nature of God against sin has swept away the church in the person of its members, even down to the present moment; as in Psa 104:29, cf. , Lev 26:16. It is the consequence of their sins. signifies sin as the perversion of the right standing and conduct; , that which is veiled in distinction from manifest sins, is the sum-total of hidden moral, and that sinful, conduct. There is no necessity to regard as a defective plural; signifies youth (from a radically distinct word, ); secret sins would therefore be called according to Psa 19:13. God sets transgressions before Him when, because the measure is full and forgiveness is inadmissible, He makes them an object of punishment. ( Ker, as in Psa 8:7: , cf. Psa 6:4 , Psa 74:6 ) has the accent upon the ultima before an initial guttural. The parallel to is . is light, and is either a body of light, as the sun and moon, or, as in this passage, the circle of light which the light forms. The countenance of God ( ) is God’s nature in its inclination towards the world, and is the doxa of His nature that is turned towards the world, which penetrates everything that is conformed to God as a gracious light (Num 6:25), and makes manifest to the bottom everything that is opposed to God and consumes it as a wrathful fire.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood. Moses confirms what he had previously said, That men, so long as they are sojourners in this world, perform, as it were, a revolution which lasts only for a moment. I do not limit the expression to carry away as with a flood to calamities of a more grievous kind, but consider that death is simply compared in general to a flood; for when we have staid a little while in the world, we forthwith fall into the grave and are covered with earth. Thus death, which is common to all, is with propriety called an inundation. While we are breathing the breath of life, the Lord overflows us by death, just as those who perish in a shipwreck are engulfed in the ocean; so that death may be fitly called an invisible deluge. And Moses affirms, that it is then evidently seen that men who flatter themselves that they are possessed of wonderful vigor in their earthly course, are only as a sleep. The comparison of grass which is added, amounts to this, That men come forth in the morning as grass springs up, that they become green, or pass away within a short time, when being cut down, they wither and decay. The verbs in the 6 verse being in the singular number, it is better to connect them with the word grass. But they may also be appropriately referred to each man; and as it makes little difference as to the sense of the text, whether we make grass or each man the nominative to the verbs, I am not disposed to expend much labor upon the matter. This doctrine requires to be continually meditated upon; for although we all confess that nothing is more transitory than our life, yet each of us is soon carried away, as it were, by a frantic impulse to picture to his own imagination an earthly immortality. Whoever bears in mind that he is mortal, restrains himself, that instead of having his attention and affections engrossed beyond measure with earthly objects, he may advance with haste to his mark. When we set no limit to our cares, we require to be urged forward by continual goadings, that we may not dream of a thousand lives instead of one, which is but as a shadow that quickly vanishes away.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5, 6) The following is suggested as the most satisfactory rendering of these verses: Time (literally, a year; but the root-idea is the repetition or change of the seasons) carries them away with its flood; they are in the morning like grass sprouting; in the morning it flourishes and sprouts, in the evening it is cut down and withered.
This is obtained by taking the verb as third feminine instead of second masculine, and slightly changing the vowels of the noun rendered in Authorised Version sleep. The confusion of the metaphor is thus avoided, and immediately on the mention of the stream of time is suggested the image of the vegetation springing into life at the first touch of rain, and dying in a dayan image so natural to an Oriental. The verb, carries away with its floods is found only here and in Psa. 77:17 (the clouds poured out water), but the cognate noun is frequent for a heavy rainfall (Isa. 4:6, &c.), such as in the East in a few moments causes a flood. This interpretation is partly supported by the LXX. and Vulg.: Their years shall be nothingness; and many commentators have felt that the image of the stream of time was required here. For the rendering cut down, comp. Job. 24:24. Some prefer fades. The general force of the figure is the same whether we think of the generations dropping away like withered grass or cut down and dried like hay.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood Our years are poured forth as a [winter] torrent quickly gone and cannot be recalled.
As a sleep When one makes no reckoning of time.
Like grass which groweth up Like grass which shall change; that is, quickly pass from one stage to another.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 90:5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood Agreeable to the ideas in the foregoing verses, death is here considered as a sort of sleep; from whence they should awake in the morning, fresh and flourishing as an herb: and I think we have this image of a resurrection exhibited to us more than once in the prophets. Thou sweepest them away as with a flood; they shall be as a sleep: in the morning they shall be as the herb which renews itself. In this sense the verb chalap, is used here, and so in the following verse, where there is a turn of thought and expression very remarkable and poetical. For the sacred writer, from giving them this glimpse of their future resurrection and renovation, returns to take a view of their present dying and distressful condition; and this in the same metaphor, and with a repetition which is very beautiful: a repetition, I mean, of the delightful part of the contemplation; (for we love to dwell upon what is pleasing to us;) but followed with a reflection sad and gloomy. “Yes,” says he, “in the morning it flourishes and renews itself; at evening it is down, and dried up; and this last,as he goes on,is a just image of our present case. The evening of our life comes on apace; for we are consumed by thine anger,” &c. Psa 90:7-10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here are several beautiful figures, illustrative of man’s short and transitory state of existence: first, as a flood, whose tide never stops a moment from flowing, but sweeps everything before it: next, as a sleep, during which the man is unconscious of what passeth; for such is life, a dream, a fancy, an illusion: next, as grass, which, as the Psalmist saith elsewhere, withereth before it be fully grown up: next, as a tale that is told, meaning a mere voice, a breath, which, though heard, is not seen, and passeth away, even in the moment of its existence. Reader, pause, and contemplate the humbling truth. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass. Oh! what a relief did this voice give, when it added, That the word of our God shall stand forever! Isa 40:6-8 . Oh, thou uncreated Word! Thou didst con descend to be made flesh, and didst dwell among us: Thou didst take our nature, to make us partakers of thine! Hail, thou gracious, holy, blessed Redeemer!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 90:5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning [they are] like grass [which] groweth up.
Ver. 5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood ] Suddenly, violently, irresistibly, by particular judgments, besides that general necessity of dying once, Heb 9:27 . This is set forth by a treble comparison, of floods, sleep, and flowers here; and indeed the vanity and misery of man’s life is such, as cannot sufficiently be set forth by any similitudes. See Psa 90:9-10 .
They are as a sleep
They are like grass
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Thou: Job 9:26, Job 22:16, Job 27:20, Job 27:21, Isa 8:7, Isa 8:8, Jer 46:7, Jer 46:8
as a sleep: Psa 73:20, Isa 29:7, Isa 29:8
morning: Psa 103:15, Psa 103:16, Isa 40:6, Jam 1:10, Jam 1:11, 1Pe 1:24
groweth up: or, is changed
Reciprocal: Job 4:19 – crushed Job 6:11 – What Job 7:6 – swifter Job 14:2 – like Job 14:4 – Who can bring Job 20:8 – fly away Psa 37:2 – General Psa 39:5 – Behold Psa 92:7 – wicked Ecc 3:18 – concerning Isa 37:27 – as the grass of Isa 51:12 – man which Isa 64:6 – we all Jon 4:7 – it withered Mat 6:30 – clothe Luk 8:42 – and she 1Co 7:29 – the time Jam 4:14 – a vapour
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 90:5-6. Thou carriest them away Namely, mankind, of whom he spake Psa 90:3. As with a flood Unexpectedly, violently, and irresistibly. They are as a sleep Short and vain as sleep is, and not minded till it be past. Or, like a dream, when a man sleepeth, wherein there may be some real pleasure, but never any satisfaction; or some real trouble, but never considerable, and seldom pernicious. Even such an idle and insignificant thing is human life, considered in itself, and without respect to a future state. They are like grass which groweth up Which sprouteth out of the earth, and becometh more apparent, green, and flourishing. In the evening it is cut down, and withereth Here the whole space of mans life is compared to one day, and his prosperity to a part of that day, and ended in the close of it. Thus, in these verses, the shortness of life, and the suddenness of our departure hence, are illustrated by three similitudes: 1st, That of a flood or torrent pouring unexpectedly and impetuously from the mountains, and sweeping all before it in an instant. 2d, That of sleep, from which when a man awakes, he thinks the time passed in it to have been nothing. 3d, That of the grass grown up in the morning, and cut down and withered in the evening. In the morning of youth, fair and beautiful, man groweth up and flourisheth; in the evening of age (and how often before that evening!) he is cut down by the stroke of death; all his juices, to the circulation of which he stood indebted for life, health, and strength, are dried up; he withereth, and turneth again to his earth. Horne.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
90:5 Thou {f} carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning [they are] like grass [which] groweth up.
(f) You take them away suddenly as with a flood.