And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season;
Its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity].

The wicked [those who live in disobedience to God’s law] are not so,
But they are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.

‘You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall shatter them [in pieces] like earthenware.’”

So that my enemy will not tear me like a lion,
Dragging me away while there is no one to rescue [me].

He lurks in a hiding place like a lion in his lair;
He lies in wait to catch the afflicted;
He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net.

In the Lord I take refuge [and put my trust];
How can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to your mountain;

The words and promises of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times.

He is like a lion eager to tear [his prey],
And like a young lion lurking in hiding places.

He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly and tread safely on paths of testing and trouble];
He sets me [securely] upon my high places.

Many [enemies like] bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

They open wide their mouths against me,
Like a ravening and a roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
It is melted [by anguish] within me.

My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery;
And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws;
And You have laid me in the dust of death.

For [a pack of] dogs have surrounded me;
A gang of evildoers has encircled me,
They pierced my hands and my feet.

To you I call, O Lord,
My rock, do not be deaf to me,
For if You are silent to me,
I will become like those who go down to the pit (grave).

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
And Sirion (Mount Hermon) like a young, wild ox.

I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.

Do not be like the horse or like the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bridle and rein to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.

All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You,
Who rescues the afflicted from him who is too strong for him [to resist alone],
And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”

Like godless jesters at a feast,
They gnashed at me with their teeth [in malice].

Transgression speaks [like an oracle] to the wicked (godless) [deep] within his heart;
There is no fear (dread) of God before his eyes.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God,
Your judgments are like the great deep.
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

For they will wither quickly like the grass,
And fade like the green herb.

But the wicked (ungodly) will perish,
And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures and like the fat of lambs [that is consumed in smoke],
They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

I have seen a wicked, violent man [with great power]
Spreading and flaunting himself like a cedar in its native soil,

For my iniquities have gone over my head [like the waves of a flood];
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
In whose mouth are no arguments.

“Surely every man walks around like a shadow [in a charade];
Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
Each one builds up riches, not knowing who will receive them.

“With rebukes You discipline man for sin;
You consume like a moth what is precious to him;
Surely every man is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]. Selah.

These things I [vividly] remember as I pour out my soul;
How I used to go along before the great crowd of people and lead them in procession to the house of God [like a choirmaster before his singers, timing the steps to the music and the chant of the song],
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a great crowd keeping a festival.

You have made us like sheep to be eaten [as mutton]
And have scattered us [in exile] among the nations.

My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my psalm to the King.
My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.

But man, with all his [self] honor and pomp, will not endure;
He is like the beasts that perish.

Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead);
Death will be their shepherd;
And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
And their form and beauty shall be for Sheol to consume,
So that they have no dwelling [on earth].

A man [who is held] in honor,
Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish.

“These things you have done and I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you.
Now I will reprimand and denounce you and state the case in order before your eyes.

Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust [confidently] in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.

And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.

Their poison is like the venom of a serpent;
They are like the deaf horned viper that stops up its ear,

Let them be as a snail which melts away (secretes slime) as it goes along,
Like the miscarriage of a woman which never sees the sun.

They return at evening, they howl and snarl like dogs,
And go [prowling] around the city.

They return at evening, they howl and snarl like dogs,
And go [prowling] around the city.

How long will you attack a man
So that you may murder him, all of you,
Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?

Who have sharpened their tongues like a sword.
They aim venomous words as arrows,

Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the [height of the] heavens,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You, [who is Your equal]?

May he come down like rain on the mown grass,
Like showers that water the earth.

There will be an abundance of grain in the soil on the top of the mountains;
Its fruit will wave like [the cedars of] Lebanon,
And those of the city will flourish like grass of the earth.

They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.

Therefore pride is their necklace;
Violence covers them like a garment [like a long, luxurious robe].

Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.

For behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful and have abandoned You.

It seems as if one had lifted up
An axe in a forest of trees [to set a record of destruction].

Your way, O God, is holy [far from sin and guilt].
What god is great like our God?

You led Your people like a flock
By the hand of Moses and Aaron [to the promised goal].

He divided the [Red] Sea and allowed them to pass through it,
And He made the waters stand up like [water behind] a dam.

He brought streams also from the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh]
And caused waters to run down like rivers.

He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas.

Therefore He consumed their days like a breath [in emptiness and futility]
And their years in sudden terror.

But God led His own people forward like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness like [a good shepherd with] a flock.

They turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were twisted like a warped bow [that will not respond to the archer’s aim].

And He built His sanctuary [exalted] like the heights [of the heavens],
Like the earth which He has established forever.

They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem,
And there was no one to bury them.

How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy [which cannot endure a divided allegiance] burn like fire?

Hear us O Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who sit enthroned above the cherubim [of the ark of the covenant], shine forth!

The mountains were covered with its shadow,
And its branches were like the cedars of God.

Who were destroyed at En-dor,
Who became like dung for the earth.

Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb
And all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

O my God, make them like whirling dust,
Like chaff before the wind [worthless and without substance].

There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord,
Nor are there any works [of wonder and majesty] like Yours.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit (grave);
I am like a man who has no strength [a mere shadow],

Cast away [from the living] and abandoned among the dead,
Like the slain who lie in a [nameless] grave,
Whom You no longer remember,
And they are cut off from Your hand.

They have surrounded me like flood waters all day long;
They have completely encompassed me.

O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds You [as an intrinsic, unchangeable part of Your very being].

How long, O Lord?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your wrath burn like fire?

You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep [forgotten as soon as they are gone];
In the morning they are like grass which grows anew—

You have placed our wickedness before you,
Our secret sins [which we tried to conceal, You have placed] in the [revealing] light of Your presence.

That though the wicked sprout up like grass
And all evildoers flourish,
They will be destroyed forever.

But my horn [my emblem of strength and power] You have exalted like that of a wild ox;
I am anointed with fresh oil [for Your service].

The righteous will flourish like the date palm [long-lived, upright and useful];
They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic and stable].

The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

For my days have vanished in smoke,
And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

My heart has been struck like grass and withered,
Indeed, [absorbed by my heartache] I forget to eat my food.

I am like a [mournful] vulture of the wilderness;
I am like a [desolate] owl of the wasteland.

I am sleepless and lie awake [mourning],
I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

My days are like an evening shadow that lengthens and vanishes [with the sun];
And as for me, I wither away like grass.

“Even they will perish, but You endure;
Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment.
Like clothing You will change them and they shall be changed.

Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.

[You are the One] who covers Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretches out the heavens like a tent curtain,

He gave them hail for rain,
With flaming fire in their land.

He opened the rock and water flowed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.

They staggered and trembled like a drunken man,
And were at their wits’ end [all their wisdom was useless].

Yet He sets the needy securely on high, away from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.

He clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
And it seeped into his inner self like water
And like [anointing] oil into his bones.

I am vanishing like a shadow when it lengthens and fades;
I am shaken off like the locust.

Who is like the Lord our God,
Who is enthroned on high,

The mountains leaped like rams,
The [little] hills, like lambs.

O mountains, that you leap like rams,
O [little] hills, like lambs?

Those who make them will become like them,
Everyone who trusts in them.