Job 29

Job’s Past Was Glorious

1 And Job again took up his ^adiscourse and said, 2 “Oh that I were as in months gone by,
As in the days when God ^bwatched over me;
3 When ^cHis lamp shone over my head,
And ^dby His light I walked through darkness;
4 As I was in ^{▼▼ Lit the days of my autumn}the prime of my days,
When the ^{▼▼ Lit counsel
,} ^gfriendship of God was over my tent;
5 When ^{▼▼ Heb Shaddai}the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were around me;
6 When my steps were bathed in ⁱbutter,
And the ^jrock poured out for me streams of oil!
7 “When I went out to ^kthe gate of the city,
When I ^{▼▼ Lit set up}took my seat in the square,
8 The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the old men arose and stood.
9 “The princes ^mstopped talking
And ⁿput their hands on their mouths;
10 The voice of the nobles was ^{▼▼ Lit hidden
,} ^phushed,
And their ^qtongue stuck to their palate.
11 “For when ^rthe ear heard, it called me blessed,
And when the eye saw, it gave witness of me,
12 Because I delivered ^sthe poor who cried for help,
And the ^torphan who had no helper.
13 “The blessing of the one ^uready to perish came upon me,
And I made the ^vwidow’s heart sing for joy.
14 “I ^wput on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 “I was ^xeyes to the blind
And feet to the lame.
16 “I was a father to ^ythe needy,
And I investigated the case which I did not know.
17 “I ^zbroke the jaws of the wicked
And snatched the prey from his teeth.
18 “Then I ^{▼▼ Lit said}thought, ‘I shall die ^{▼▼ Lit with}in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand.
19 ‘My ^acroot is spread out to the waters,
And ^addew lies all night on my branch.
20 ‘My glory is ever new with me,
And my ^aebow is renewed in my hand.’

21 “To me ^afthey listened and waited,
And kept silent for my counsel.
22 “After my words they did not ^agspeak again,
And ^ahmy speech dropped on them.
23 “They waited for me as for the rain,
And opened their mouth as for the spring rain.
24 “I smiled on them when they did not believe,
And the light of my face they did not cast down.
25 “I chose a way for them and sat as ^aichief,
And dwelt as a king among the troops,
As one who ^ajcomforted the mourners.