Mazmur 37:2

37:2 For they will quickly dry up like grass,

and wither away like plants. ¹ 

Mazmur 90:5

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ² 

In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;

Mazmur 102:11

102:11 My days are coming to an end, ³ 

and I am withered like grass.

[37:2]  ¹ tn Heb “like green vegetation.”

[90:5]  ² tn Heb “you bring them to an end [with] sleep.” The Hebrew verb זָרַם (zaram) has traditionally been taken to mean “flood” or “overwhelm” (note the Polel form of a root זרם in Ps 77:17, where the verb is used of the clouds pouring down rain). However, the verb form here is Qal, not Polel, and is better understood as a homonym meaning “to make an end [of life].” The term שֵׁנָה (shenah, “sleep”) can be taken as an adverbial accusative; it is a euphemism here for death (see Ps 76:5-6).

[102:11]  ³ tn Heb “my days [are] like an extended [or “lengthening”] shadow,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness.