Job 29

Modern English Version

² “Oh, that I were as in months past,
    as in the days when God watched over me;
³ when His lamp shone upon my head,
    and when by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴ as I was in the days of my autumn youth,
    when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
⁵ when the Almighty was still with me,
    when my children were around me;
⁶ when my steps were bathed in butter,
    and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

⁷ “When I went out to the gate of the city,
    when I took my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and hid themselves,
    and the aged arose and stood up.
⁹ The princes refrained from talking,
    and put their hand on their mouth.
¹⁰ The nobles held their peace,
    and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ When the ear heard, then it blessed me;
    and when the eye saw, then it approved me,
¹² because I delivered the poor who cried,
    and the fatherless, and him who had none to help him.
¹³ The blessing of the perishing man came upon me,
    and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my judgment was like a robe and a diadem.
¹⁵ I was eyes for the blind,
    and I was feet for the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the poor,
    and I searched out the case that I did not know.
¹⁷ I broke the jaws of the wicked
    and plucked the victim from his teeth.

¹⁸ “Then I said, ‘I will die in my nest,
    and I will multiply my days as the sand.
¹⁹ My root was spread out by the waters,
    and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
²⁰ My glory was fresh in me,
    and my bow was renewed in my hand.’

²¹ “Men listened to me and waited,
    and kept silence for my counsel.
²² After my words they did not speak again,
    and my speech settled on them like dew.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
²⁴ If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
    and the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
²⁵ I chose the way for them and sat as chief,
    and lived as a king in the army,
    as one who comforts mourners.