Psalms 90:5

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

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

Them, i.e. mankind, of whom he spake, . 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 , 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.

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.Ver. 5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood] Suddenly, violently, irresistibly, by particular judgments, besides that general necessity of dying once, Hebrews 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 Psalms 90:9-10. They are as a sleep] Or dream; the dream of a shadow (σκιαςοναρ), saith Pindarus, the shadow of smoke, saith another. They are like grass] An ordinary comparison, Isaiah 40:6 James 1:10-11

(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 day—an image so natural to an Oriental. The verb, carries away with its floods is found only here and in Psalms 77:17 (“the clouds poured out water”), but the cognate noun is frequent for a heavy rainfall (Isaiah 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.

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, Psalms 90:3-6.

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. Isaiah 28:2; Isaiah 30:30; Matthew 7:25; Matthew 7:27. they are as a sleep] As those who are asleep. Or, they fall asleep, in the sleep of death. Cp. Psalms 76:6; Jeremiah 51:39; Jeremiah 51:57; Nahum 3:18. in the morning &c.] Another figure for the transitoriness of human life, developed in Psalms 90:6. Cp. Psalms 103:15-16; Job 14:2; Isaiah 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 Psalms 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.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood - The original here is a single verb with the suffix - זרמתם zerametâm. The verb - זרם zâram - means, to flow, to pour; then, to pour upon, to overwhelm, to wash away.

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.