Psalms 90:5
IntermediatePsalms 90:5 · World English Bible (WEB)
“You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.”
Tip: highlight any word or phrase above to go deeper on exactly that.
Overview
The frailty and brevity of human life before the eternal God.
God can sweep away a human generation as suddenly and irresistibly as a flood. Human life may appear fresh and full in the morning, yet it is as temporary as grass.
What Makes This Verse Confusing?
The phrase can sound as if people are literally sleeping when God removes them, but in the verse it functions as an image of helplessness and unawareness. Humanity is not in control of its own continuance; life can be carried away while man is passive before God.
The verse does not specify whether “sleep” refers to ordinary sleep, death, or a figurative condition of human helplessness. The surrounding poetry moves rapidly between images: flood, sleep, morning, and grass.
This makes the verse more solemn: Moses is not merely saying life is short, but that mankind is utterly dependent on God and cannot resist His appointed limit.
Symbols & Metaphors
sweep them away
God’s sovereign power over the length of human life, pictured as an overwhelming flood carrying people away.
Scripture often uses rushing waters to picture irresistible judgment or overwhelming divine action, as in Isaiah 8:7-8.
Man does not gradually master death; he is carried beyond his strength. The image humbles the heart before the Lord who alone is eternal.
new grass
Human life in its freshness, beauty, and quick passing.
Isaiah 40:6 and 1 Peter 1:24 also compare human glory to grass: beautiful for a moment, then withering.
The image is not contempt for human life; it is a call to see life truthfully. Our days have beauty because God gives them, but they cannot bear the weight of eternity apart from Him.
Original Language
to flood — 1) to pour out, pour forth in floods, flood away 1a) (Qal) to pour out, flood away 1b) (Poal) to pour forth, pour out 1b1) of God's power (fig.)
The verb behind “sweep away” carries the force of flooding or pouring along. This makes the action feel sudden and unstoppable, not merely like God “removing” people in a quiet or abstract way.
grass — 1a) grass 1b) of the quickly perishing (fig.)
“Grass” points to vegetation that springs up quickly and can vanish quickly. In this psalm, it captures both the freshness of life and its inability to endure.
to pass — 1) to pass on or away, pass through, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to pass on quickly 1a2) to pass away (vanish) 1a3) to come on anew, sprout again (of grass) 1a4) to pass through 1a5) to overstep, transgress 1b) (Piel) to cause to pass, change 1c) (Hiph) 1c1) to change, substitute, alter, change for better, renew 1c2) to show newness (of tree) Aramaic equivale…
The word rendered “sprout” can carry the idea of passing on, changing, or being renewed. That range fits the verse’s movement: life appears to rise fresh in the morning, yet it is already passing.
Lexicon & word tagging: STEP Bible (Tyndale House, STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0)
Related Passages
Isaiah 40:6
parallelIsaiah declares that “all flesh is grass,” directly echoing the same biblical picture of human frailty.
Psalms 103:15-16
parallelPsalm 103 also compares man’s days to grass and a flower of the field that disappears when the wind passes over it.
Psalms 73:20
parallelPsalm 73:20 compares human seeming stability to a dream that vanishes when one awakes.
Job 22:16
Background1 Peter 1:24
BackgroundJob 27:20-21
BackgroundIsaiah 8:7-8
BackgroundIsaiah 29:7-8
BackgroundCross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · openbible.info (CC-BY)
Key Takeaway
Psalm 90:5 teaches that human life is fresh but fleeting, and only the eternal God gives our days their true meaning.
Before the Lord, man is morning grass: alive by mercy, gone by evening, and upheld only by God.“
Analysis generated on October 15, 2026 · version 2.0
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