Job Remembers Better Days
29 Again Job took up his discourse saying:
2 “O that I could be as in the months gone by,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when His lamp shone above my head,
when by His light I walked through darkness;
4 as I was in the days of my prime,
when God’s intimate friendship was upon my tent,
5 when Shaddai was still with me,
and my children surrounded me;
6 when my steps were bathed with butter,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil.
7 When I went out to the city gate,
and secured my seat in the public square,
8 young men would see me and hide,
old men would rise and stand;
9 princes refrained from talking
and put their hand over their mouths;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed
and their tongue stuck to their palate.
11 “When the ear heard,
it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw me,
it commended me;
12 for I saved the poor who cried for help,
and the orphan who had no one to help him;
13 the blessing of the dying man came on me,
and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;
justice was as my robe and turban.
15 I was eyes for the blind
and feet for the lame;
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I investigated the case of one I did not know.
17 I broke the jaws of the unjust,
and snatched the prey out of his teeth.
18 “Then I thought, ‘I will die in my nest,
and multiply my days like the sand.
19 My roots reach the water,
and dew lies on my branches all night.
20 My glory is fresh within me,
and my bow is renewed in my hand.’
21 “People listened to me and waited,
and kept silent for my advice.
22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more;
my words fell on them drop by drop.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and opened their mouths as for spring rain.
24 When I joked with them, they hardly believed it;
they did not cause the light of my face to fall.
25 I chose their way and sat as their chief;
I lived as a king among the troops;
I was like one who comforts mourners.