Job 29

¹Job also added to this, using figures of speech, and he said:

²Who will grant to me that I might be as I was in former months, according to the days when God kept watch over me?

³At that time, his lamp shined over my head, and by his light, I walked through the darkness.

⁴I was then just as in the days of my youth, when God was privately in my tabernacle.

⁵At that time, the Almighty was with me and my children surrounded me.

⁶Then, I washed my feet with butter, and a boulder poured out rivers of oil for me.

⁷When I went to the gate of the city, or to the main street, they prepared a chair for me.

⁸The youths saw me and hid themselves, and the elders, rising up, remained standing.

⁹The leaders stopped talking, and they placed a finder over their mouth.

¹⁰The commanders subdued their voice, and their tongue adhered to their throat.

¹¹The ear that heard me, blessed me, and the eye that saw me, gave testimony for me.

¹²This was because I had freed the poor, who cried out, and the orphan, who had no helper.

¹³The blessing of him who would have been destroyed came upon me, and I consoled the heart of the widow.

¹⁴I put on justice, and I clothed myself with my judgment, like a robe and a diadem.

¹⁵I was an eye for the blind and a foot for the lame.

¹⁶I was the father of the poor; and if I lacked knowledge about any case, I investigated very diligently.

¹⁷I crushed the jaws of the impious, and I took away prey from his teeth.

¹⁸And I said, “I will die in my little nest, and like a palm tree, I will multiply my days.

¹⁹My root has been spread beside the waters, and the dew will remain with my harvest.

²⁰My glory will always be restored, and my bow will be restored to my hand.”

²¹Those who heard me, expected vindication, and they listened closely in silence to my counsel.

²²To my words, they dared to add nothing, and my eloquence poured over them.

²³They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for belated rains.

²⁴If I had ever laughed at them, they would not have believed it, and the light of my face was not cast down towards the ground.

²⁵If I wished to go to them, I sat down first, and, though I sat like a king surrounded by an army, yet I was a comforter to those who mourned.

Job 29

¹Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

²Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;

³When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;

⁴As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

⁵When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;

⁶When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

⁷When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!

⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.

⁹The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

¹⁰The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

¹²Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

¹⁷And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

¹⁸Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.

²⁰My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.

²¹Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.

²²After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.

²³And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

²⁴If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.

²⁵I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.