Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause.”

Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child,
like infants who never see daylight?

I sigh when food is put before me,
and my groans pour out like water.

how much more those who dwell in clay houses,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth!

You will also know that your offspring will be many
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

I refuse to touch them;
they are like contaminated food.

Isn’t mankind consigned to forced labor on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired hand?

Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hired man he waits for his pay.

They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him,
that we can take each other to court.

Are Your days like those of a human,
or Your years like those of a man,

Please remember that You formed me like clay.
Will You now return me to dust?

Did You not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?

If I am proud, You hunt me like a lion
and again display Your miraculous power against me.

It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like the darkness.”

Your life will be brighter than noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.

They grope around in darkness without light;
He makes them stagger like drunken men.

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Man wears out like something rotten,
like a moth-eaten garment.

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He blossoms like a flower, then withers;
he flees like a shadow and does not last.

Do You really take notice of one like this?
Will You bring me into judgment against You?

look away from him and let him rest
so that he can enjoy his day like a hired hand.

the smell of water makes it thrive
and produce twigs like a sapling.

how much less one who is revolting and corrupt,
who drinks injustice like water?

Trouble and distress terrify him,
overwhelming him like a king prepared for battle.

He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes
and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters.

If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.

He breaks through my defenses again and again;
He charges at me like a warrior.

He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.
He uproots my hope like a tree.

he will vanish forever like his own dung.
Those who know him will ask, “Where is he?”

He will fly away like a dream and never be found;
he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

They let their little ones run around like lambs;
their children skip about,

Are they like straw before the wind,
like chaff a storm sweeps away?

He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,
and He has many more things like these in mind.

Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;
the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.

For the morning is like darkness to them.
Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

The womb forgets them;
worms feed on them;
they are remembered no more.
So injustice is broken like a tree.

They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone;
they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.
They wither like heads of grain.

May my enemy be like the wicked
and my opponent like the unjust.

Though he piles up silver like dust
and heaps up a wardrobe like clay—

The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon
or a booth set up by a watchman.

Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a storm wind sweeps him away at night.

I clothed myself in righteousness,
and it enveloped me;
my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.

After a word from me they did not speak again;
my speech settled on them like dew.

I directed their course and presided as chief.
I lived as a king among his troops,
like one who comforts those who mourn.

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Terrors are turned loose against me;
they chase my dignity away like the wind,
and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.

He throws me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.

I would surely carry it on my shoulder
and wear it like a crown.

I would give Him an account of all my steps;
I would approach Him like a prince.

My heart is like unvented wine;
it is about to burst like new wineskins.

I am just like you before God;
I was also pinched off from a piece of clay.

But if you have something to say, answer me;
speak, for I would like to justify you.

What man is like Job?
He drinks derision like water.

If only Job were tested to the limit,
because his answers are like those of wicked men.

Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness another human being.

Look, God shows Himself exalted by His power.
Who is a teacher like Him?

Get ready to answer Me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform Me.

The earth is changed as clay is by a seal;
its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

when the dust hardens like cast metal
and the clods of dirt stick together?

The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
but are her feathers and plumage like the stork’s?

Do you make him leap like a locust?
His proud snorting fills one with terror.

Get ready to answer Me like a man;
When I question you, you will inform Me.

Do you have an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like His?

Look at Behemoth,
which I made along with you.
He eats grass like an ox.

He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree;
the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.

His bones are bronze tubes;
his limbs are like iron rods.

Can you play with him like a bird
or put him on a leash for your girls?

His snorting flashes with light,
while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

No arrow can make him flee;
slingstones become like stubble to him.

His undersides are jagged potsherds,
spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.

He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;
he makes the sea like an ointment jar.