At that time, the LORD will defend those who live in Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them at that time will be like David. The entire house of David will be like God indeed, like the angel of the LORD in their midst!

Then the woman went to tell her husband. She said, "A man of God appeared to me. He looked like what an angel of God would look like very frightening. I didn't ask him where he had come from and he didn't tell me his name.

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! He sent his angel to deliver his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king's command and were willing to risk their lives in order not to serve or worship any god except their own God. So I decree that people from any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will be destroyed and their house reduced to rubble, because there is no other god who can save like this."

Achish answered David, "I know that I'm pleased with you. You're like an angel of God. But the Philistine leaders have said, "He mustn't go into battle with us.'

"As your soul lives, your majesty, the king," the woman answered, "no one can divert anything left or right from what your majesty the king has spoken! As a matter of fact, it was your servant Joab! He was there, giving me precise orders about everything that your humble servant was to say. Your servant Joab did this, intending to change the outcome of this matter. Nevertheless, your majesty is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to be aware of everything that's going on throughout the earth."

by slandering your servant to your majesty. But your majesty the king is like an angel from God: so do what you think is best.

"I'm a prophet like you," the old man replied, "and an angel spoke to me and delivered this message from the LORD: "Bring him back with you to your house and give him food and water.'" But he was lying,

The angel of the LORD answered Manoah, "If you detain me, I won't be eating your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, you'll be making a sacrifice to the LORD." The angel of the LORD said this because Manoah didn't know that he was the angel of the LORD.

As the angel was stretching out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity, so he told the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Stay your hand!" So the angel of the LORD remained near the threshing floor that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.

Look! That angel who was talking to me left, and another angel came forward to meet him.

The angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened bread. Fire broke out from inside the boulder, consuming the meat and unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished in front of him.

When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the LORD himself, he cried out, "Oh no! Lord GOD! I've been looking right at the angel of the LORD and face-to-face at that!"

The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife, and then Manoah knew confidently that the visitor had been the angel of the LORD.

God also sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as he was about to do so, the LORD looked and withdrew the calamity by saying to the destroying angel, "Enough! Stop what you're doing!"

So the angel of the ORD remained standing near the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan the Jebusite. David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

His body was like beryl, his face flashed like lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and legs were like polished bronze, and his speech roared like that of a crowd.

Therefore they will be like morning clouds, like early morning dew that evaporates, like chaff blown away from the threshing floor, or like smoke from a chimney."

"Please come, and let's reason together," implores the LORD. "Even though your sins are like scarlet, they'll be white like snow. Though they're like crimson, they'll become like wool.

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our iniquities sweep us away.

"Whoever slaughters an ox is just like one who kills a human being; whoever sacrifices a lamb is just like one who breaks a dog's neck; whoever makes a grain offering is just like one who offers pig's blood; and whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense is just like one who blesses an idol. Yes, these have chosen their own ways, and they take delight in their contaminated actions.

"This is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: "You haven't lived like your father Jehoshaphat and like King Asa of Judah. Instead, you have lived like the kings of Israel by causing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit cultic sexual immorality just like Ahab's dynasty did! And you've killed your brothers who were better than you your own father's dynasty!

They're spread out like valleys, like gardens along river banks, like aloe planted by the LORD, or like cedars beside water.

"And I'll bring so much distress to people that they will walk around like the blind. Because they have sinned against the LORD, their blood will be poured out like dust and their intestines will spill out like manure.

The decree was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar immediately. He was driven away from people to eat grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws.

I will be like the dew to Israel; Israel will blossom like a lily, growing roots like the cedars of Lebanon.

My insides feel like unvented wine, like it's about to burst like a new wineskin.

He wore curses like a garment may they enter his inner being like water and his bones like oil.

Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus?

Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon, beside the gate of Beth-rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, which faces Damascus.

"The daughter of Zion is left abandoned, like a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, or like a city under siege.

The nations roar like the rushing of many waters, but the LORD will rebuke them, and they will run far away, chased like chaff blown down from the mountains or like thick dust that rolls along, blown along by a wind storm.

Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They've become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind.

He's the one who sits above the disk of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He's the one who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in,

Who is blind except my servant, or deaf like my messenger I am sending? Who is blind like the one committed to me, or blind like the LORD's servant?

Let's grope along the wall like the blind; let us grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as if it were twilight, in desolate places like dead people.

"I will heartily rejoice in the LORD, my soul will delight in my God; for he has wrapped me in garments of salvation; he has arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, just like a bridegroom, like a priest with a garland, and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

I also heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of roaring water, like the voice of the Almighty, or like a boisterous crowd within an army camp. Whenever they stopped flying, they lowered their wings.

Afterwards, he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, "What were the men like whom you killed at Tabor?" They answered, "Like you, each one like the son of a king""

"I'm coming," Jehoshaphat replied. "I'm like you! My army will act like your army and my cavalry like your cavalry," Then Jehoshaphat added: "What road do we take?" Jehoram answered, "We'll go along the Edom desert road."

"Now, everyone who likes proverbs will quote this proverb about you, "Like mother, like daughter.'

Therefore as I'm alive and living," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, "Moab will surely become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a place overrun by weeds and salty marshes, unpopulated forever. The survivors of my people will confiscate their property, and those who remain of my nation will inherit what was theirs.

"Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? And what does it look like now? From what you can see, it seems like nothing, doesn't it?

I ground them like wind-swept dust; I emptied them out like dirt in the street.

which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, or like a champion who rejoices at the beginning of a race.

I am poured out like water; all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me.

He makes them stagger like a calf, even Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

Like a dead man, I am forgotten in their thoughts like broken pottery.

Like a lion they desire to rip us to pieces, like a young lion waiting in ambush.

"I kept on watching until the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothes were white, like snow, and the hair on his head was like pure wool. His throne burned with flaming fire, and its wheels burned with fire.

Those who manifest wisdom will shine like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars for ever and ever.

So it will be: like people, like priest. I will punish them for their lifestyles, rewarding them according to their behavior.

The princes of Judah have become like those who move boundary markers: I will pour out my anger on them like water.

Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I even I will tear them to pieces, and then I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue.

Let us know, let us pursue knowledge of the LORD; his coming is as certain as the dawn. He will come to us like the rain, like the autumn and spring rains come on the earth.

"What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? Your love is like a morning rain cloud it passes away like the morning dew.

For they have stirred up themselves like an oven as they lie in ambush. Their baker sleeps through the night; in the morning, the oven will be blazing like a fire.

"I found Israel, as one finds grapes in the wilderness; Your ancestors seemed to me like the fruit gleaned from a fig tree's first harvest. When they went to Baal-peor, they devoted themselves to that filth, and they became loathsome, like what they loved.

"How can I give up on you, Ephraim? I will deliver you, will I not, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? I can't make you like Zeboim, can I? My heart stirs within me; my compassion also fans into flame!

"So I will be like a lion to them. Like a leopard I will stalk them along the road.

I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their ribs. I will devour them like a lion the wild beasts will rip them apart.

Israel's branches will spread out, and its beauty will be like an olive tree, with its scent like that of Lebanon.

Those who live under its protection will surely return. Their grain will flourish; they will blossom like a vine, and Israel's scent will be like wine from Lebanon.

Indeed, a nation has invaded my land it is strong and its population is too large to count with teeth like a lion and fangs like a lioness.

A day of doom and gloom, a day of clouds and shadows like the dawn spreads out to cover the mountains a people strong and robust. Never has there been anything like it, neither will anything follow to compare with it, even through the lifetime of generation upon generation."

As to their form, they're like horses; and like chariot horses, how they can run!

They leap like the rumbling of chariots echoing from mountain tops, like the roar of wild fire that devours the chaff, as an army firmly established in battle array.

They run like elite soldiers, climbing ramparts like men trained for war. Each man advances in proper order, never breaking rank.

Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites in front of them, though their height seemed like a cedar, though their strength seemed like an oak, but whose fruit I destroyed from above and the roots from beneath.

"But let justice roll on like many waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing river.

Surely the land will tremble because of this, won't it? And all who live in it will mourn, won't they? The entire land will swell up like a flooded river. It will be stirred up and then will sink like the river of Egypt.

I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all of your songs to dirges. I will cause all of you to put on sackcloth and to shave all of your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son, and its conclusion will be like the end of a bitter day."

"The Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies who is touching the earth so that it melts and all of its inhabitants mourn there the land rises like the Nile River, but sinks like the river of Egypt

The mountains will melt under him and the valleys will split apart, like wax in the presence of fire and like water gushing down a steep incline.

"Therefore I will cry out and grieve loudly; I will walk around stripped and naked. I will cry out like a jackal and mourn like a company of ostriches.

"Jacob, how I will surely gather all of you! How I will gather the survivors of Israel! I will gather them together like sheep in a pen, like the flock in the midst of the sheepfold. There will be a great commotion because of all the people.

You eat the flesh of my people, flaying their skin from them. You break their bones, chopping them in pieces like meat for a pot, like meat destined for a soup kettle.'

"Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the Temple Mount like a forest high place."

Get up and smash them to pieces, daughter of Zion, because I will make your horn like iron and your hooves like bronze! And you will beat many people to pieces, and I will consecrate their dishonest gain to the LORD and their assets to the Lord of the entire earth."

Poor me! I feel like those who harvest summer fruit, or like those who pick grapes there are no clusters to eat or any fresh fruit that I want.

The best of them is like a thorn, and their most upright like a hedge of thorns. The day announced by your watchmen and by your own calculations approaches. Now it's your time to be confused!

They will lick the dust like a serpent; they will crawl from their strongholds like snakes. They will fear the LORD our God. They will be terrified because of you.

Their chariots storm through the streets, jostling each other along broad avenues. They look like torches, as they dart around like lightning.

In that place fire will consume you, the sword will cut you down, consuming you as locusts do. Multiply yourself like locusts, increase like swarming grasshoppers.

Your imperial guards are like the swarming grasshopper; your marshals are like hordes of grasshoppers, settling in the stone walls on a chilly day. The sun rises, and they flee away; no one knows where they went.

"You have fashioned mankind like fish in the ocean, like creeping things that have no ruler.

Like clay is molded by a signet ring, the earth's hills and valleys then stand out like the colors of a garment.

Do you have strength like God? Can you create thunder with a sound like he can?"

He regards iron like straw, and hardened bronze like a dead tree.

He causes the deep to boil like water in a pot, and churns the sea like one stirs ointment.

I set an example of the way to live, as a leader would; I lived like a king among his army; like one who comforts mourners."

"What man is like Job, who drinks mockery like water,

"Tyre built itself a fortification, hoarding silver like dust and pure gold like mud in a street.

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies will defend them; they will devour and conquer those who sling stones. They will drink and be boisterous like those who are drunk. They will be filled to the brim with blood, like the corners of the altar.

"The people of Ephraim will become like mighty soldiers; they will be glad, like those who have wine. Their children will see this and rejoice; their hearts will find joy in the Lord.

"At that time, I will make the leaders of Judah like a brazier filled with blazing wood, or like a torch setting fire to harvested grain. They will devour all the invading armies, both on the right hand and on the left. As a result, Jerusalem will again be inhabited in its rightful place as the real Jerusalem.'"

And I will bring that surviving third through, testing them as if through fire, purifying them like silver, assaying them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, "This is my people,' and they will say, "The LORD is my God.'"

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your justice is like the great depths of the sea. You deliver both people and animals, LORD.

Indeed, they soon will wither like grass, and like green herbs they will fade away.

Indeed, the wicked will perish. The LORD's enemies will be consumed like flowers in the fields. They will vanish like smoke.

I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, and like the mute, who cannot open his mouth.