NETfree - Job - 29

29:1  Then Job continued his speech:

29:2  "O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me,

29:3  when he caused his lamp to shine upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;

29:4  just as I was in my most productive time, when God's intimate friendship was experienced in my tent,

29:5  when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me;

29:6  when my steps were bathed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!

29:7  When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square,

29:8  the young men would see me and step aside, and the old men would get up and remain standing;

29:9  the chief men refrained from talking and covered their mouths with their hands;

29:10  the voices of the nobles fell silent, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

29:11  "As soon as the ear heard these things, it blessed me, and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

29:12  for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;

29:13  the blessing of the dying man descended on me, and I made the widow's heart rejoice;

29:14  I put on righteousness and it clothed me, my just dealing was like a robe and a turban;

29:15  I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame;

29:16  I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;

29:17  I broke the fangs of the wicked, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

29:18  "Then I thought, 'I will die in my own home, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

29:19  My roots reach the water, and the dew lies on my branches all night long.

29:20  My glory will always be fresh in me, and my bow ever new in my hand.'

29:21  "People listened to me and waited silently; they kept silent for my advice.

29:22  After I had spoken, they did not respond; my words fell on them drop by drop.

29:23  They waited for me as people wait for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rains.

29:24  If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it; and they did not cause the light of my face to darken.

29:25  I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.