So the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil."

Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason."

But he replied, "You're talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil?" In all this Job did not sin by what he said.

Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?

For my sighing comes in place of my food, and my groanings flow forth like water.

Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands.

The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth?

You will also know that your children will be numerous, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

Look, we have investigated this, so it is true. Hear it, and apply it for your own good."

I have refused to touch such things; they are like loathsome food to me.

Is my strength like that of stones? or is my flesh made of bronze?

For now you have become like these streams that are no help; you see a terror, and are afraid.

"Now then, be good enough to look at me; and I will not lie to your face!

"Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?

Like a servant longing for the evening shadow, and like a hired man looking for his wages,

The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

Will you never look away from me, will you not let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle?

"How long will you speak these things, seeing that the words of your mouth are like a great wind?

But if you will look to God, and make your supplication to the Almighty,

They glide by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.

For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment.

Are your days like the days of a mortal, or your years like the years of a mortal,

Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?

to the land of utter darkness, like the deepest darkness, and the deepest shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness."

For you will forget your trouble; you will remember it like water that has flowed away.

And life will be brighter than the noonday; though there be darkness, it will be like the morning.

They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.

So I waste away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.

Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man.

at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth shoots like a new plant.

how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water!

Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack,

Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms.

"I have heard many things like these before. What miserable comforters are you all!

I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could pile up words against you and I could shake my head at you.

He breaks through against me, time and time again; he rushes against me like a warrior.

He tears me down on every side until I perish; he uproots my hope like one uproots a tree.

Why do you pursue me like God does? Will you never be satiated with my flesh?

he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, 'Where is he?'

Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.

He will not look on the streams, the rivers, which are the torrents of honey and butter.

Look at me and be appalled; put your hands over your mouths.

They allow their children to run like a flock; their little ones dance about.

How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?

But he knows the pathway that I take; if he tested me, I would come forth like gold.

Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides food for them and for their children.

They spend the night naked because they lack clothing; they have no covering against the cold.

They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.

Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief.

For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of darkness.

The womb forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.

They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone, they are brought low like all others, and gathered in, and like a head of grain they are cut off.'

"May my enemy be like the wicked, my adversary like the unrighteous.

If he piles up silver like dust and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,

The house he builds is as fragile as a moth's cocoon, like a hut that a watchman has made.

Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; at night a whirlwind carries him off.

I put on righteousness and it clothed me, my just dealing was like a robe and a turban;

I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.

They were banished from the community -- people shouted at them like they would shout at thieves --

They brayed like animals among the bushes and were huddled together under the nettles.

Terrors are turned loose on me; they drive away my honor like the wind, and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away.

With great power God grasps my clothing; he binds me like the collar of my tunic.

I cry out to you, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you only look at me.

but from my youth I raised the orphan like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow!

If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without a coat,

Surely I would wear it proudly on my shoulder, I would bind it on me like a crown;

I would give him an accounting of my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

Look, I waited for you to speak; I listened closely to your wise thoughts,while you were searching for words.

Inside I am like wine which has no outlet, like new wineskins ready to burst!

Look, I am just like you in relation to God; I too have been molded from clay.

then his flesh is restored like a youth's; he returns to the days of his youthful vigor.

What man is like Job, who drinks derision like water!

But Job will be tested to the end, because his answers are like those of wicked men.

Your wickedness affects only a person like yourself, and your righteousness only other people.

Indeed, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?

Get ready for a difficult task like a man; I will question you and you will inform me!

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features are dyed like a garment.

when the waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

Who prepares prey for the raven, when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Do you make it leap like a locust? Its proud neighing is terrifying!

"Get ready for a difficult task like a man. I will question you and you will inform me!

Do you have an arm as powerful as God's, and can you thunder with a voice like his?

Scatter abroad the abundance of your anger. Look at every proud man and bring him low;

Look at every proud man and abase him; crush the wicked on the spot!

"Look now at Behemoth, which I made as I made you; it eats grass like the ox.

Look at its strength in its loins, and its power in the muscles of its belly.

It makes its tail stiff like a cedar, the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.

Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron.

Can you play with it, like a bird, or tie it on a leash for your girls?

They lock tightly together, one to the next; they cling together and cannot be separated.

Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.

Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones become like chaff to it.

Its underparts are the sharp points of potsherds, it leaves its mark in the mud like a threshing sledge.

It makes the deep boil like a cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment,