Ayub 14:2

14:2 He grows up ¹  like a flower and then withers away; ² 

he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ³ 

Mazmur 103:15-16

103:15 A person’s life is like grass. ⁴ 

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind ⁵  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

Yesaya 40:6-7

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ⁶  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ⁷  “All people are like grass, ⁸ 

and all their promises ⁹  are like the flowers in the field.

40:7 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

when the wind sent by the Lord ¹⁰  blows on them.

Surely humanity ¹¹  is like grass.

Yesaya 40:1

The Lord Returns to Jerusalem

40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your ¹²  God.

1 Korintus 7:31

7:31 those who use the world as though they were not using it to the full. For the present shape of this world is passing away.

1 Korintus 7:1

Celibacy and Marriage

7:1 Now with regard to the issues you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” ¹³ 

1 Petrus 1:24

1:24 For

all flesh ¹⁴  is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of the grass; ¹⁵ 

the grass withers and the flower falls off,

[14:2]  ¹ tn Heb יָצָא (yatsa’, “comes forth”). The perfect verb expresses characteristic action and so is translated by the present tense (see GKC 329 §111.s).

[14:2]  ² tn The verb וַיִּמָּל (vayyimmal) is from the root מָלַל (malal, “to languish; to wither”) and not from a different root מָלַל (malal, “to cut off”).

[14:2]  ³ tn The verb is “and he does not stand.” Here the verb means “to stay fixed; to abide.” The shadow does not stay fixed, but continues to advance toward darkness.

[103:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.

[103:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ⁷ tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[40:7]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruakh yehvah), which in this context probably does not refer to the Lord’s personal Spirit. The phrase is better translated “the breath of the Lord,” or “the wind of [i.e., sent by] the Lord.” The Lord’s sovereign control over nature, including the hot desert winds that dry up vegetation, is in view here (cf. Ps 147:18; Isa 59:19).

[40:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:1]  ¹² tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.

[7:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “It is good for a man not to touch a woman,” a euphemism for sexual relations. This idiom occurs ten times in Greek literature, and all of the references except one appear to refer to sexual relations (cf., e.g., Josephus, Ant. 1.8.1 [1.163]; Gen 20:6 [LXX]; Prov 6:29 [LXX]). For discussion see G. D. Fee, First Corinthians (NICNT), 275. Many recent interpreters believe that here again (as in 6:12-13) Paul cites a slogan the Corinthians apparently used to justify their actions. If this is so, Paul agrees with the slogan in part, but corrects it in the following verses to show how the Corinthians misused the idea to justify abstinence within marriage (cf. 8:1, 4; 10:23). See also G. D. Fee, “1 Corinthians 7:1 in the NIV,” JETS 23 (1980): 307-14.

[1:24]  ¹⁴ sn Here all flesh is a metaphor for humanity – human beings as both frail and temporary.

[1:24]  ¹⁵ tn Or “a wildflower.”