| Job 29:1 |
Then Job again took up his discourse and said, |
| Job 29:2 |
Oh that I were as in the months of old, / As in the days when God watched over me; |
| Job 29:3 |
When His lamp shone over my head, / [And] by His light I walked through darkness; |
| Job 29:4 |
As I was in the days of my prime, / When intimate counsel with God was over my tent; |
| Job 29:5 |
When the Almighty was yet with me, / [And] my children were around me; |
| Job 29:6 |
When my steps were bathed in milk, / And the rock poured out for me streams of oil! |
| Job 29:7 |
When I went out to the gate of the city, / When I prepared my seat in the square, |
| Job 29:8 |
The young men saw me and hid themselves, / And the aged rose up [and] stood. |
| Job 29:9 |
Princes refrained from talking / And laid [their] hand over their mouth. |
| Job 29:10 |
The voice of the nobles was hushed, / And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. |
| Job 29:11 |
For when the ear heard [me,] it blessed me; / And when the eye saw [me,] it bore witness to me; |
| Job 29:12 |
Because I delivered the poor man who cried out, / And the orphan who had no one to help him. |
| Job 29:13 |
The blessing of him who was perishing came upon me, / And I made the widow's heart shout for joy. |
| Job 29:14 |
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; / My justice was like a robe and a turban. |
| Job 29:15 |
I was eyes to the blind, / And I was feet to the lame. |
| Job 29:16 |
I was a father to the needy, / And the cause of him whom I did not know I investigated. |
| Job 29:17 |
I broke the jaws of the unjust / And made him drop the prey from his teeth. |
| Job 29:18 |
Then I said, I will die in my nest, / And I will multiply [my] days like the sand. |
| Job 29:19 |
My root is spread out to the water, / And dew abides on my branch at night. |
| Job 29:20 |
My glory is [always] new with me, / And my bow is renewed in my hand. |
| Job 29:21 |
[Men] listened to me and waited, / And they were silent for my counsel. |
| Job 29:22 |
After my words they spoke not again, / And my speech distilled [like] [dew] upon them. |
| Job 29:23 |
And they waited for me as for the rain, / And they opened their mouth wide [as] for the late rain. |
| Job 29:24 |
I smiled on them--they could not believe [it;] / And they did not cast down the light of my countenance. |
| Job 29:25 |
I chose the way for them and sat as chief, / And I dwelt as a king among the troops, / As one who comforts those who mourn. |