Psalms 90:6

Psa 90:6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

Ver. 6. In the morning it flourisheth] So doth man in his prime and vigour, his bones full of marrow, his breasts of milk.

In the evening it is cut down] So is man by death’s mortal scythe, which moweth down the lilies of the crown as well as the grass of the field. In the evening grass will cut better, and the mowers can better work at it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. (Psa 90:6) In the morning it blooms and (then) passes away, (for) at evening he mows and it withers. The mention of the morning, in ver. 5, as following the night, suggests the mention of the morning here, as followed by the evening. The first verb means not merely to flourish in the wide sense, but to bloom, as plants do. See above, on Psa 72:16, and compare Num 17:8), which proves it to be a Mosaic expression. The verbs may agree with grass, or with man, whom the grass represents, more probably the latter. The idea conveyed by supplying then is really involved in the grammatical relation of the Hebrew verbs, the second of which never means to grow or sprout, but always to pass or undergo a change. The third verb is active, but may be construed with an indefinite subject, and is then equivalent in meaning to a passive, he is mown and withers. The withering is not here referred to as the effect of natural decay but of violent excision. With the whole verse compare Psa 37:2; Psa 103:15, Job 14:2.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. it is cut down] Or, it fadeth. Cp. Psa_37:2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up,.... That is, the grass, through the dew that lay all night on it, and by the clear shining of the sun after rain, when it appears in great beauty and verdure; so man in the morning of his youth looks gay and beautiful, grows in the stature and strength of his body, and in the endowments of his mind; and it may be also in riches and wealth; it is well if he grows in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ:

in the evening it is cut down, and withereth; the Targum adds, "through heat"; but it cannot be by the heat of the sun, when it is cut down at evening; but it withers in course, being cut down. This respects the latter part of life, the evening of old age; and the whole expresses the shortness of life, which is compared to grass, that now is in all its beauty and glory, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, Mat 6:30. This metaphor of grass, to set forth the frailty of man, and his short continuance, is frequently used; see Psa 37:2, Pe1 1:24. It may be observed, 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In the morning it flourisheth - This does not mean that it grows with any special vigor or rapidity in the morning, as if that were illustrative of the rapid growth of the young; but merely that, in fact, in the morning it is green and vigorous, and is cut down in the short course of a day, or before evening. The reference here is to grass as an emblem of man.

And groweth up - The same word in the Hebrew which is used in the close of the previous verse.

In the evening it is cut down, and withereth - In the short period of a day. What was so green and flourishing in the morning, is, at the close of the day, dried up. Life has been arrested, and death, with its consequences, has ensued. So with man. How often is this literally true, that those who are strong, healthy, vigorous, hopeful, in the morning, are at night pale, cold, and speechless in death! How striking is this as an emblem of man in general: so soon cut down; so soon numbered with the dead. Compare the notes at Isa 40:6-8; notes at 1Pe 1:24-25.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The whole space of man’s life is compared to one day, and his prosperity is confined to a part of that day, and ended in the close of it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 6. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up. Blooming with abounding beauty till the meadows are all besprent with gems, the grass has a golden hour, even as man in his youth has a heyday of flowery glory.

In the evening it is cut down, and withereth. The scythe ends the blossoming of the field flowers, and the dews at flight weep their fall. Here is the history of the grass—sown, grown, blown, mown, gone; and the history of man is not much more. Natural decay would put an end both to us and the grass in due time; few, however, are left to experience the full result of age, for death comes with his scythe, and removes our life in the midst of its verdure. How great a change in how short a time! The morning saw the blooming, and the evening sees the withering.

Ver. 6. In the morning. This can hardly mean "in early youth", as some of the Rabbis explain. The words, strictly speaking, are a part of the comparison ("they are as grass which springeth afresh in the morning"), and are only thus placed first to give emphasis to the figure. In the East, one night's rain works a change as if by magic. The field at evening was brown, parched, arid as a desert; in the morning it is green with the blades of grass. The scorching hot wind (Jas 1:11) blows upon it, and again before evening it is withered. —J.J.S. Perowne.

Ver. 6. Cut down.

Stout and strong today,

Tomorrow turned to clay.

This day in his bloom,

The next, in the tomb.

It is true that to some Death sends his grey harbingers before, and gives them timely warning of his approach. But in how many cases does he arrive unannounced, and, lifting up his scythe, mows down the lofty! On shipboard there is but a plank between us and death; on horseback, but a fall. As we walk along the streets, death stretches a threatening finger from every tile upon the roofs! "He comes up into our windows, and enters into our palaces; he cuts off the children from without, and the young men from the streets." Jer 9:21. Our life is less than an handbreadth. How soon and how insensibly we slip into the grave! —Augustus F. Tholuck.

Psalms 90:7*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up—In the morning it blossoms and revives, or freshens with new life. חלŠ, (hhalaph,) translated “groweth up” in the English version, signifies to change, either in the sense of to pass away, perish, or to increase, revive, and the particular sense must be determined by the connexion and the nature of the subject. In Isa_40:31; Isa_41:1, it takes the latter, also in Job_14:7. In the text it stands opposed to withereth, in the next line. The antithetic parallelism of the verse is very perfect.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withered. (comp. Psa_102:4, 11 103:15 Isa_40:7 Jam_1:10, Jam_1:11)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the morning, it blossoms it passes away immediately, and when evening comes, it is cut off and withered. Why?

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.