James 1:10
But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
Study Note
Study Note
'But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away' — James's instruction to the rich believer to boast in humiliation deliberately inverts worldly status-logic: the proper Christian posture for the wealthy is identification with one's own mortality and transience rather than financial standing. The flower-of-the-field image for human transience draws directly on Isaiah 40:6–8 ('all flesh is as grass... the grass withereth'), placing the rich person within the universal pattern of creaturely fragility. The verse functions as a radical leveler: the only appropriate Christian boasting is in the cross (Galatians 6:14), before which every other form of human achievement is relativized by its own impermanence.
Other Translations
and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
and the rich in his becoming low, because as a flower of grass he shall pass away;
But the man of wealth, that he is made low; because like the flower of the grass he will come to his end.
Cross References
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass …
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof …
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high …