Damah is the verb of comparison and likeness. It asks and answers the question: what is this like? God uses it to invite reflection: 'To whom will you compare me?' (Isaiah 40:18, 25). The Psalmist uses it reflexively: 'Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him' (Psalm 42:5). The verb connects to demut (likeness) in Genesis 1:26 — mankind made in the demut of God.
The theology of damah centers on incomparability and imitation. God is incomparable — nothing in creation can be likened to Him (Isaiah 46:5). Yet humans are created in His likeness (demut, from the same root), and believers are being transformed into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18). The gap between 'to whom will you liken God?' and 'you are being transformed into His image' is the entire narrative of redemption — the incomparable God making His people like Him.