Psalms 90 · Verse 5

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.
Psalms 90:5, King James Version

Psalms 90:5 in other translations

BSBYou whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
WEBYou sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.
ASVThou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
YLTThou hast inundated them, they are asleep, In the morning as grass he changeth.
DARBYThou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass that groweth up:
BBE...
WebsterThou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep; in the morning they are like grass which groweth.

What does Psalms 90:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 90:5-6
5-6. Life is like grass, which, though changing under the influence of the night's dew, and flourishing in the morning, is soon cut down and withereth (Psa 103:15; 1Pe 1:24).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
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, etc.; 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, Psa 90:3-6.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 90:1-6

It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Nu 14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is the refuge and dwelling-place to which we may repair. We are dying creatures, all our comforts in the world are dying comforts, but God is an ever-living God, and believers find him so. When God, by…

Read the full comment on Psalms 90:1-6 →

Psalms 90:5 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

זְ֭רַמְתָּםZe.ram.tomyou flood themH2229
שֵׁנָ֣הshe.NahsleepH8142
יִהְי֑וּyih.Yuthey areH1961
בַּ֝בֹּ֗קֶרba.Bo.kerin the morningH1242
כֶּחָצִ֥ירke.cha.Tzirlike <the> grassH2682
יַחֲלֹֽף\׃ya.cha.Lof[which] it sprouts upH2498

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 90:5

  • Isaiah 40:6

    The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

  • Job 22:16

    Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

  • Psalms 73:20

    As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

  • 1 Peter 1:24

    For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

  • Psalms 103:15-16

    As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

  • Job 27:20-21

    Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.

  • Isaiah 8:7-8

    Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

  • Job 20:8

    He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

  • James 1:10-11

    But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

  • Job 9:26

    They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.

  • Isaiah 29:7-8

    And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

  • Jeremiah 46:7-8

    Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Thou.
Job 9:26; 22:16; 27:20,21; Isa 8:7,8; Jer 46:7,8
as a sleep.
73:20; Isa 29:7,8
morning.
103:15,16; Isa 40:6; Jas 1:10,11; 1Pe 1:24
groweth up. or, is changed.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 90:4

    For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

  • 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.

  • Psalms 90:6

    In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

Read all of Psalms 90

Psalms 90:5 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Háceslos pasar como avenida de aguas; son como sueño; como la hierba que crece en la mañana:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Comme un torrent tu les emportes; ils sont comme un sommeil, – au matin, comme l’herbe qui reverdit:
German
Elberfelder 1871		Du schwemmst sie hinweg, sie sind wie ein Schlaf, am Morgen wie Gras, das aufsproßt;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Scuto circumdabit te veritas ejus: non timebis a timore nocturno;