is like the light of morning when the sun comes up, a morning in which there are no clouds. He is like the brightness after rain that produces grass from the earth.

But evil people are like thorns – all of them are tossed away, for they cannot be held in the hand.

Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you! There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true! ¹ 

I grind them as fine as the dust of the ground; I crush them and stomp on them like clay ¹  in the streets.

The king chanted the following lament for Abner: “Should Abner have died like a fool?

This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders ¹  of Israel.

But my servant ¹  has slandered me ²  to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do whatever seems appropriate to you.

Then Mephibosheth ¹  bowed and said, “Of what importance am I, your servant, that you show regard for a dead dog like me?” ² 

Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair ¹  the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ²  the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. ¹ 

Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored. ¹ 

Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land.” ¹ 

The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you ¹  be like that young man!”

The Benjaminites formed their ranks ¹  behind Abner and were like a single army, standing at the top of a certain hill.

Then the king replied to him, “Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together.”

Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation ¹  on the earth? Their God ²  went ³  to claim ⁴  a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, ⁵  before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods. ⁶ 

My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba – in number like the sand by the sea! – be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle.

Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree. ¹ 

But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. ¹  It used to ²  eat his food, ³  drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. ⁴  It was just like a daughter to him.

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ²