Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  4000 Creation  »  4400 Vegetation and food  »  4460 grass

Green vegetation, which grows rapidly after rainfall, and serves as good food for many animals. The withering of grass in hot weather is often used in Scripture as a symbol of the frailty and brevity of human life.

Grass is food for animals

1 Kings 18:5 See also Numbers 22:4; Deuteronomy 11:15; Job 6:5; Job 40:15; Psalm 104:14; Psalm 106:20; Jeremiah 14:5; Daniel 4:25,32-33; Daniel 5:21

Rain is essential for the growth of grass

Job 38:25-27 See also Deuteronomy 32:2; 2 Samuel 23:4; Psalm 147:8; Proverbs 19:12; Micah 5:7

Grass grows quickly and abundantly

Isaiah 44:3-4 See also Job 5:25; Psalm 72:16; Psalm 92:7; Isaiah 35:7; Isaiah 66:14

Grass withers, dies and burns easily

Isaiah 15:6 See also Psalm 102:4,11; Isaiah 5:24; Jeremiah 12:4; Revelation 8:7

The life cycle of grass is short

Psalm 129:6 See also Isaiah 37:27; Matthew 6:28-34 pp Luke 12:27-31

The brevity of human life is compared to that of grass

Isaiah 40:6-8 See also 2 Kings 19:25-26; Job 8:11-13; Psalm 37:1-2; Psalm 90:5; Psalm 103:13-19; Isaiah 51:12; 1 Peter 1:24-25

See also

1670  symbols
4016  life, human
4402  plants
4528  trees