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Psalm 103:15
As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
13Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
14For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
15As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
17But the LORD’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children,
Notice
Grass and a field flower measure a human life here, making even its flourishing seem brief and exposing how fragile strength and beauty are.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does comparing your days to grass bring to mind about the time you have?
Write on thisWhere do you see the flower’s brief flourishing reflected in a human life you know?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
1 Peter 1:24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;Both compare human life to grass and flowers, with Peter naming the withering and falling that follow flourishing.
James 1:10–11and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.James applies the grass flower comparison to the rich, whose lives share the frailty Psalm 103 describes for humanity.
Isaiah 51:12“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass?Both compare mortal humans to grass; Isaiah uses that frailty to challenge fear of people.
Isaiah 40:6–8The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.Both use grass and the flower of the field to describe human life and its flourishing or glory.
Isaiah 28:1Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who …Both use a flower to describe human flourishing or splendor, though Isaiah directs the image toward Ephraim’s pride and drunkenness.
Job 14:1–3“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.Job’s description of humanity as having few days shares the psalm’s concern with the brevity of human life.
Psalm 90:5–6You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.Both portray people as grass, with Psalm 90 describing fresh growth in the same verse that speaks of being swept away.
Isaiah 28:4The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer, which someone picks …Both compare human flourishing or splendor to a flower; Isaiah’s fading flower stresses how soon that splendor disappears.
Nahum 1:4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes.The shared image is a flower: human life flourishes like one in the psalm, while Lebanon’s flower languishes in Nahum.
Job 7:21Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”Job anticipates his own absence in death, giving a personal voice to the mortal frailty pictured by the psalm’s grass.
Ecclesiastes 6:10Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.Both concern human limits, though Ecclesiastes describes inability to contend with someone mightier rather than the brevity of life.
Where this verse fits
Aging. grief. death and what comes after.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Your days have the frailty of a field flower. The surrounding lines name God’s compassion toward those who fear him: he knows how humans are made, and his loving kindness lasts.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 103:15. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).