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Selected Verse: Psalms 103:15 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 103:15 |
King James |
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
So short and frail is life that a breath may destroy it.
it is gone--literally, "it is not."
know it no more--no more recognize him (Psa 90:6; Isa 40:6-8). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
As for man - literally, "Man; like the grass are his days!" The thought is fixed on man: man so frail and weak; man, not only made originally of earth, but man delicate, feeble, soon to pass away like the springing grass, or like the fading flower.
His days are as grass - See the notes at Psa 90:5-6; compare Isa 40:6-8, notes; Pe1 1:24, note.
As a flower of the field - As a blossom. It opens with beauty and fragrance, but soon fades and perishes.
So he flourisheth - Rather, "So he blossoms." That is, he is like a flower that is fresh and beautiful, and that soon withers away. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The figure of the grass recalls Psa 90:5., cf. Isa 40:6-8; Isa 51:12; that of the flower, Job 14:2. אנושׁ is man as a mortal being; his life's duration is likened to that of a blade of grass, and his beauty and glory to a flower of the field, whose fullest bloom is also the beginning of its fading. In Psa 103:16 בּו (the same as in Isa 40:7.) refers to man, who is compared to grass and flowers. כּי is ἐάν with a hypothetical perfect; and the wind that scorches up the plants, referred to man, is an emblem of every form of peril that threatens life: often enough it is really a breath of wind which snaps off a man's life. The bold designation of vanishing away without leaving any trace, "and his place knoweth him no more," is taken from Job 7:10, cf. ibid. Job 8:18; Job 20:9. In the midst of this plant-like, frail destiny, there is, however, one strong ground of comfort. There is an everlasting power, which raises all those who link themselves with it above the transitoriness involved in nature's laws, and makes them eternal like itself. This power is the mercy of God, which spans itself above (על) all those who fear Him like an eternal heaven. This is God's righteousness, which rewards faithful adherence to His covenant and conscientious fulfilment of His precepts in accordance with the order of redemption, and shows itself even to (ל) children's children, according to Exo 20:6; Exo 34:7; Deu 7:9 : on into a thousand generations, i.e., into infinity. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
His days are as grass - See the note on Psa 90:5. |
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:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
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:
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:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
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:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
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; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.