6  A voice says, “Cry!”

And I said,¹ “What shall I cry?”

ⁱAll flesh is grass,

and all its beauty² is like the flower of the field.

7  The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

8  ^jThe grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

13  As ^ra father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion ^pto those who fear him.

14  For he knows our frame;¹

he ^sremembers that we are dust.

15  As for man, his days are like ^tgrass;

he flourishes like ^ua flower of the field;

16  for ^vthe wind passes over it, and ^wit is gone,

and ^xits place knows it no more.

17  But ^ythe steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on ^pthose who fear him,

and his righteousness to ^zchildren’s children,

18  to those who ^akeep his covenant

and ^bremember to do his commandments.

26  while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,

are dismayed and confounded,

and have become ⁱlike plants of the field

and like tender grass,

like grass on the housetops,

blighted before it is grown.

2  For they will soon ^wfade like ^xthe grass

and wither ^ylike the green herb.

^g“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

25  ^hbut the word of the Lord remains forever.”