achievement—all their glory—is nothing more than the blossom of a flower, which blooms beautifully but soon drops its petals and dies. The prophet repeats the thought in these verses so there is no mistake about God’s message. In the face of the Lord’s hot breath, both the people, who are grass, and their achievements, which are flowers, wither and fall. No matter what humans may accomplish, death still stalks every last one of us and will eventually pounce on us all and devour us. We are not to