18 Bible Verses About Flowers, and Why Scripture Keeps Saying They Fade

Isaiah 40:6-8

“The voice said, ‘Cry out!’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.’”

Reflection: Isaiah 40 opens with God’s command to comfort his people (40:1). The contrast in verse 8 is the point: people wither like grass, but “the word of our God stands forever.”

Psalm 103:15-16

“As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.”

Reflection: “Its place knows it no more”: after the flower is gone, even the ground it grew in forgets it. The next verse turns to the Lord’s steadfast love, which is “from everlasting to everlasting” (103:17).

Job 14:1-2

“Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.”

Reflection: Job says this in his grief, after losing his children, his wealth and his health. A few verses later he says there is more hope for a tree that is cut down, because it may sprout again (14:7).

1 Peter 1:24

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.”

Reflection: Peter quotes Isaiah 40 to believers who were suffering various trials (1:6). The next verse completes the quotation: “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever” (1:25).

James 1:10-11

“But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”

Reflection: James applies the image to wealth. The rich will fade like a wildflower under the burning heat of the sun, and the verse ends, “so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”

Matthew 6:28-29

“And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Reflection: The Greek word for lily, krinon, may refer to wildflowers in general rather than to one kind. Jesus compares them with Solomon, who “was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth” (1 Kings 10:23), and the flowers are better dressed.

Matthew 6:30

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

Reflection: Dry grass was used as fuel for ovens. Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater: if God clothes grass that will be burned tomorrow, he will clothe his people.

Luke 12:27-28

“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!”

Reflection: Luke records the same teaching after the parable of the rich man who stored up his harvest and died that night (12:16-21).

Isaiah 35:1-2

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.”

Reflection: The Hebrew word translated “rose” here, chabatstseleth, is the same word as the “rose of Sharon” in Song of Solomon 2:1, and the ESV translates it crocus. Isaiah pictures the desert in bloom when God restores his people.

Hosea 14:5

“I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.”

Reflection: The lily grows above the ground, and the roots reach down like the cedars of Lebanon. The book of Hosea ends with this promise of restoration for Israel after judgment.

Isaiah 61:11

“For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”

Reflection: Isaiah compares righteousness to seeds coming up in a garden. The growth is gradual, and God is the one who causes it.

Psalm 85:11

“Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”

Reflection: The verse before says, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (85:10). Truth springs up from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

Genesis 1:11-12

“And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.’ And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Reflection: Plants appear on the third day, before the sun, moon and stars are made on the fourth (1:14-19), and God sees that they are good.

Psalm 104:14

“He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth.”

Reflection: Psalm 104 describes God’s care for the whole of creation. Here he makes grass grow for the cattle and plants for people to use, the same provision behind many of the Bible verses about thankfulness.

1 Kings 6:18

“And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.”

Reflection: “Knops” are gourds, carved ornaments shaped like wild gourds. The inside of the temple was lined with cedar carved with gourds and open flowers, so that no stone could be seen.

1 Kings 6:29

“And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.”

Reflection: “Within and without” means the inner and outer rooms of the temple, as the NIV translates it. Cherubim, palm trees and open flowers were carved throughout, and the olive-wood doors carried the same designs (6:32).

Song of Solomon 2:1-2

“I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.”

Reflection: The woman calls herself a rose of Sharon, a flower of the coastal plain, and the man answers that she is like a lily among thorns. This is love poetry, and the flowers are part of how the two describe each other.

Proverbs 27:25

“The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered.”

Reflection: This belongs to a short passage on caring for flocks and herds (27:23-27). When the new grass appears and the hay is gathered, a farmer who has looked after his animals will have enough.