LEB - Job - 29

29:1  Then Job again took up his discourse and said,

29:2  “⌞O that I were⌟ as in the months before, as in the days when God watched over me,

29:3  when his shining lamp was over my head— by his light I walked through darkness—

29:4  as when I was in the days of my prime, when God’s confiding was over my ⌞house⌟,

29:5  when Shaddaiwas still with me, my children were all around me,

29:6  when my paths were washed in sour milk, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.

29:7  “At my going out the gate to the city, I secured my seat in the square.

29:8  Young men saw me and stepped aside, and the aged rose up and stood.

29:9  Officials refrained from talking, and they laid their hand on their mouth.

29:10  The voices of nobles were hushed, and their tongue stuck to their palate.

29:11  “When the ear heard and commended me, and the eye saw and testified in support of me

29:12  because I saved the needy who cried for help, and I saved the orphan for whom there was no helper.

29:13  The blessing of the wretched came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a headband.

29:15  “I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame.

29:16  I was a father to the poor, and I investigated ⌞the stranger’s⌟ legal dispute.

29:17  And I broke the evil one’s jaw bones, and I made his prey drop from his teeth.

29:18  “And I thought, ‘I will pass away in my nest, and like the phoenix I shall multiply my days.

29:19  My roots were open to water, and dew spent the night on my branches;

29:20  My glory was new with me, and ⌞I was revitalized regularly⌟.’

29:21  “They listened to me and waited, and they kept silent for my counsel.

29:22  After my word, they did not speak again, and my word dropped down like dew upon them.

29:23  And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.

29:24  I smiled for them when they had no confidence in anything, and they did not extinguish the light of my face.

29:25  I chose their way, and I sat as head, and I dwelled like a king among the troops, like one who comforts mourners.