Job 29

1Job continued his discourse:

2“Oh, that I were as in the months gone by, as in the days when God watched over me,

3when his lamp shone above my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

4as I was in the prime of my life, when God’s friendship was over my tent,

5when the Almighty was still with me and my children were all around me,

6when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!

7When I went out to the gate of the city and took my seat in the public square,

8the young men saw me and stepped aside, and the old men rose and stood;

9officials held back their words and put their hands over their mouths;

10the voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11The ear that heard me called me blessed, and the eye that saw me spoke well of me,

12because I rescued the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had no one to help him.

13The blessing of the one about to perish came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

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

16I was a father to the needy, and I looked into the case of the stranger.

17I broke the fangs of the unjust and made him drop the prey from his teeth.

18Then I said, ‘I will die in my nest, and I will multiply my days like the sand.

19My roots will reach out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branches.

20My glory will stay fresh within me, and my bow will be ever new in my hand.’

21People listened to me and waited; they kept silent for my counsel.

22After I spoke, they did not speak again; my words fell gently on them like drops.

23They waited for me as for the rain and opened their mouths wide as for the spring rain.

24When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it; they did not let the light of my face be dimmed.

25I chose their way and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.