Job 29:17

My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.

Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?

or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.

Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”

There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless.

Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.

The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”

It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”

Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,

Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.

I went out after him, and struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and killed him.

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

Return, Yahweh. Deliver my soul, and save me for your loving kindness’ sake.

Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.

Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”

Arise, Yahweh, confront him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword;

Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me!

Don’t let them say in their heart, “Aha! That’s the way we want it!” Don’t let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”

Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.

He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth.

Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.

Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.

You, Yahweh God of Armies, the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish the nations. Show no mercy to the wicked traitors.

Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!

when God arose to judgment, to save all the afflicted ones of the earth.

Blessed be Yahweh, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:

David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?

Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?

They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.”

You, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you. I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.”

“Should you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says Yahweh.

All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found it. We have seen it.”

He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes.

Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.

Yahweh says: “As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.”

Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.

“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions.

They received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They kept bringing free will offerings to him every morning.

You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother.

If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment and the judges judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.

Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!”

But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.

They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.

He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.

Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,

How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?

You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.

They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.

then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

Rescue those who are being led away to death! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter!

Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!

For Yahweh says to me, “As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for their noise, so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.

“For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

House of David, Yahweh says, ‘Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

They will fall among those who are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword. Draw her away with all her multitudes.

Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said this to him: “I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation.”

For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.

The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.

so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.