Job 29

¹Then Job continued his speech:

²“O that I could be as I wasin the months now gone,in the days when God watched over me,

³when he caused his lampto shine upon my head,and by his lightI walked through darkness;

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

⁵when the Almighty was still with meand my children were around me;

⁶when my steps were bathed with butterand the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!

⁷When I went out to the city gateand secured my seat in the public square,

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

⁹the chief men refrained from talkingand covered their mouths with their hands;

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

Job’s Benevolence

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

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

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

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

¹⁵I was eyes for the blindand feet for the lame;

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

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

Job’s Confidence

¹⁸“Then I thought, ‘I will die in my own home,my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

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

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

Job’s Reputation

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

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

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

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

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