The Meaning of Psalms 90:5 Explained

Psalms 90:5

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

YLT: Thou hast inundated them, they are asleep, In the morning as grass he changeth.

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

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

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Psalms 90:5 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalms 90:1-17 - The Message Of The Passing Years
The majestic music of this great psalm separates it from all the rest. It is like the deep bass stop of a mighty organ. Moses' authorship is stamped upon it. It is worthy of the man who had seen God face to face.
Psalms 90:1-6. The transitoriness of human life is contrasted with the stability of God. He is the asylum and home of all the generations of mankind, Deuteronomy 33:27. The earth and its mountains the universe and its worlds, were born of Him; but He Himself had no origin, no beginning. Time is but a sigh, a breath, the swift rush of the mountain-torrent, a tale told by the camp-fire at night, the grass of a morning's growth.
Psalms 90:7-12. A wail is borne in these verses from the forty years of wanderings. The ceaseless succession of graves was the bitter harvest of Israel's rebellions. Oh, that we might apply our hearts to wisdom that we may not fail of God's rest!
Psalms 90:13-17. In the closing words Moses utters a sublime prayer which includes us all. Let us seek to do some good work before we go, and may our children be a nobler generation than ourselves! But all beauty of character and permanence of work must emanate from God. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalms 90

1  Moses, setting forth God's providence
3  Complains of human fragility
7  Divine chastisement
10  and brevity of life
12  He prays for the knowledge and sensible experience of God's good providence

What do the individual words in Psalms 90:5 mean?

You carry them away [like] a flood [like] a sleep they are in the morning [They are] like grass [which] grows up
זְ֭רַמְתָּם שֵׁנָ֣ה יִהְי֑וּ בַּ֝בֹּ֗קֶר כֶּחָצִ֥יר יַחֲלֹֽף

זְ֭רַמְתָּם  You  carry  them  away  [like]  a  flood 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, second person masculine singular, third person masculine plural
Root: זָרַם 
Sense: to pour out, pour forth in floods, flood away.
שֵׁנָ֣ה  [like]  a  sleep 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: שֵׁנָא 
Sense: sleep.
יִהְי֑וּ  they  are 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
בַּ֝בֹּ֗קֶר  in  the  morning 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: בֹּקֶר 
Sense: morning, break of day.
כֶּחָצִ֥יר  [They  are]  like  grass 
Parse: Preposition-k, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: חָצִיר 
Sense: grass, leek, green grass, herbage.
יַחֲלֹֽף  [which]  grows  up 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: חָלַף 
Sense: to pass on or away, pass through, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from.