Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 90:5-6

"Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down, and withereth." — Psalms 90:5-6 (ASV)

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 the Authorized Version sleep. The confusion of the metaphor is thus avoided, and immediately on the mention of the stream of time, the image of vegetation springing into life at the first touch of rain and dying in a day—an image so natural to an inhabitant of Eastern lands—is suggested.

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 and other passages), such as in Eastern regions in a few moments causes a flood. This interpretation is partly supported by the Septuagint and Vulgate: “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, compare 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.