Job 29

₂Oh that I were as in months past,

As in the days when God preserved me;

₃When his candle shined upon my head,

And when by his light I walked through darkness;

₄As I was in the days of my youth,

When the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

₅When the Almighty was yet with me,

When my children were about me;

₆When I washed my steps with butter,

And the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

₇When I went out to the gate through the city,

When I prepared my seat in the street!

₈The young men saw me, and hid themselves:

And the aged arose, and stood up.

₉The princes refrained talking,

And laid their hand on their mouth.

₁₀The nobles held their peace,

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

₁₁When the ear heard me, then it blessed me;

And when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

₁₂Because I delivered the poor that cried,

And the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

₁₃The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me:

And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

₁₄I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:

My judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

₁₅I was eyes to the blind,

And feet was I to the lame.

₁₆I was a father to the poor:

And the cause which I knew not I searched out.

₁₇And I brake the jaws of the wicked,

And plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

₁₈Then I said, I shall die in my nest,

And I shall multiply my days as the sand.

₁₉My root was spread out by the waters,

And the dew lay all night upon my branch.

₂₀My glory was fresh in me,

And my bow was renewed in my hand.

₂₁Unto me men gave ear, and waited,

And kept silence at my counsel.

₂₂After my words they spake not again;

And my speech dropped upon them.

₂₃And they waited for me as for the rain;

And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

₂₄If I laughed on them, they believed it not;

And the light of my countenance they cast not down.

₂₅I chose out their way, and sat chief,

And dwelt as a king in the army,

As one that comforteth the mourners.