Job 29:7-25

7 When I went out to ^athe gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
9 the princes refrained from talking
and ^blaid their hand on their mouth;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their ^ctongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I ^ddelivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 ^eThe blessing of him who was ^fabout to perish came upon me,
and I caused ^gthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I ^hput on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and ⁱa turban.
15 I was ^jeyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out ^kthe cause of him whom I did not know.
17 I ^lbroke ^mthe fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18 ⁿThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^onest,
and I shall multiply my days as ^pthe sand,
19 my ^qroots spread out to ^rthe waters,
with the dew all night on my ^sbranches,
20 my glory fresh with me,
and my ^tbow ever ^unew in my hand.’
21 “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word ^vdropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and they ^wopened their mouths as for the ^xspring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and ^ythe light of my ^zface they did not cast down.
25 I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like ^aaa king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.