“He will fail to bring his grapes to maturity [leaving them to wither unnourished] on the vine,
And will cast off blossoms [and fail to bring forth fruit] like the olive tree.

“Is there no end to [your futile] words of wind?
Or what plagues you [so much] that you [so boldly] answer [me like this]?

“He attacks me, making wound after wound;
He runs at me like a warrior.

“My eye has grown dim (unexpressive) because of grief,
And all my [body’s] members are [wasted away] like a shadow.

“He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

“Why do you persecute me as God does?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh (anguish)?

Yet he perishes forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

“He flies away like a dream and cannot be found;
Yes, he is chased away like a vision of the night.

“They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children skip about.

“Are they like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that the storm steals and carries away?

Men who were snatched away before their time,
Whose foundations were poured out like a river?

“A mother will forget him;
The worm feeds on him until he is no longer remembered.
And wickedness will be broken like a tree [which cannot be restored].

“Though he heaps up silver like dust
And piles up clothing like clay,

“He builds his house like a spider’s web,
Like a (temporary) hut which a watchman makes.

“Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly rising] flood;
A windstorm steals him away in the night.

“I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban!

“After I spoke, they did not speak again,
And my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower].

“I chose a way for them and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king among his soldiers,
As one who comforts mourners.

“Among the bushes they cry out [like wild animals];
Beneath the prickly scrub they gather and huddle together.

“On my right the [rabble] brood rises;
They push my feet away, and they build up their ways of destruction against me [like an advancing army].

“Terrors are turned upon me;
They chase away my honor and reputation like the wind,
And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

“By the great force [of my disease] my garment (skin) is disfigured and blemished;
It binds about me [choking me] like the collar of my coat.

“God has cast me into the mire [a swampland of crisis],
And I have become [worthless] like dust and ashes.

Let my wife grind [meal, like a bond slave] for another [man],
And let others kneel down over her.

“Have I concealed my transgressions like Adam or like other men,
By hiding my wickedness in my bosom,

“Now Job has not directed his words against me [therefore I have no reason to be offended],
Nor will I answer him with arguments like yours. [I speak for truth, not for revenge.]

“My belly is like unvented wine;
Like new wineskins it is about to burst.

“What man is like Job,
Who drinks up derision like water,

‘Job ought to be tried to the limit
Because he answers like wicked men!

“Behold, God is exalted in His power;
Who is a ruler or a teacher like Him?

“Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

“The earth is changed like clay into which a seal is pressed;
And the things [of the earth] stand out like a [multi-colored] garment.

“Water becomes like stone [and hides itself],
And the surface of the deep is frozen and imprisoned.

“Have you [Job] made him leap like a locust?
The majesty of his snorting [nostrils] is terrible.

“Now gird up your loins (prepare yourself) like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me.

“Have you an arm like God,
And can you thunder with a voice like His?

“Behold now, Behemoth, which I created as well as you;
He eats grass like an ox.

“He sways his tail like a cedar;
The tendons of his thighs are twisted and knit together [like a rope].

“His bones are tubes of bronze;
His limbs are like bars of iron.

“His sneezes flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the [reddish] eyelids of the dawn.

“His underparts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery;
He moves across and spreads out [grooves] like a threshing sledge on the mire (muddy river banks).

“He makes the deep water boil like a pot;
He makes the sea like a [foaming] pot of ointment.

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.