Job 29

¹ And Job again took up his parable, and said,

² Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;

³ When his lamp shined upon my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;

⁴ As I was in the ripeness of my days, When the friendship of God was upon my tent;

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

⁶ When my steps were washed with butter, And the rock poured me out streams of oil!

⁷ When I went forth to the gate unto the city, When I prepared my seat in the street,

⁸ The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the aged rose up and stood;

⁹ The princes refrained from talking, And laid their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰ The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹ For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:

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

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

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

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

¹⁶ I was a father to the needy: And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.

¹⁷ And I brake the jaws of the unrighteous, And plucked the prey out of his teeth.

¹⁸ Then I said, I shall die in my nest, And I shall multiply my days as the sand:

¹⁹ My root is spread out to the waters, And the dew lieth all night upon my branch:

²⁰ My glory is fresh in me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.

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

²² After my words they spake not again; And my speech distilled upon them.

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

²⁴ I smiled on them, when they had no confidence; And the light of my countenance they cast not down.

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