Job 29:1 Then Job again took up his discourse and said,
Job 29:2 Oh that I were as in the months of old, / As in the days when God watched over me;
Job 29:3 When His lamp shone over my head, / And by His light I walked through darkness;
Job 29:4 As I was in the days of my prime, / When intimate counsel with God was over my tent;
Job 29:5 When the Almighty was yet with me, / And my children were around me;
Job 29:6 When my steps were bathed in milk, / And the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
Job 29:7 When I went out to the gate of the city, / When I prepared my seat in the square,
Job 29:8 The young men saw me and hid themselves, / And the aged rose up and stood.
Job 29:9 Princes refrained from talking / And laid their hand over their mouth.
Job 29:10 The voice of the nobles was hushed, / And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11 For when the ear heard me, it blessed me; / And when the eye saw me, it bore witness to me;
Job 29:12 Because I delivered the poor man who cried out, / And the orphan who had no one to help him.
Job 29:13 The blessing of him who was perishing came upon me, / And I made the widow’s heart shout for joy.
Job 29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; / My justice was like a robe and a turban.
Job 29:15 I was eyes to the blind, / And I was feet to the lame.
Job 29:16 I was a father to the needy, / And the cause of him whom I did not know I investigated.
Job 29:17 I broke the jaws of the unjust / And made him drop the prey from his teeth.
Job 29:18 Then I said, I will die in my nest, / And I will multiply my days like the sand.
Job 29:19 My root is spread out to the water, / And dew abides on my branch at night.
Job 29:20 My glory is always new with me, / And my bow is renewed in my hand.
Job 29:21 Men listened to me and waited, / And they were silent for my counsel.
Job 29:22 After my words they spoke not again, / And my speech distilled like dew upon them.
Job 29:23 And they waited for me as for the rain, / And they opened their mouth wide as for the late rain.
Job 29:24 I smiled on them — they could not believe it; / And they did not cast down the light of my countenance.
Job 29:25 I chose the way for them and sat as chief, / And I dwelt as a king among the troops, / As one who comforts those who mourn.