Job 29

Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

²O that I were ^aas in months past,

As in the days when God preserved me;

^3bWhen 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 ^cthe secret of God was upon my ^dtabernacle;

⁵When the Almighty was yet with me,

When ^emy children were about me;

⁶When ^fI washed my steps with ^gbutter,

And ^hthe rock ⁱpoured me out rivers of ^koil;

⁷When I went out to the ^lgate through the ^lcity,

When I prepared my seat in the ^mstreet;

⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves:

And ⁿthe aged arose, and stood up.

⁹The princes refrained talking,

And ^olaid their hand on their mouth.

¹⁰The nobles held their peace,

And their ^ptongue cleaved to ^qthe 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 ^rthe fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

¹³The ^sblessing of him that was ^tready to perish came upon me:

And I caused ^uthe widow’s heart to ^xsing for joy.

^14yI put on righteousness, and it clothed me:

My judgment was as a robe and a ^zdiadem.

¹⁵I was ^aeyes to the blind,

And feet was I to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor:

And the cause ^bwhich I knew not I searched out.

¹⁷And I ^bbbrake the jaws of the wicked,

And pluckt the spoil out of his teeth.

^18cThen I said, I shall die in my ^dnest,

And I shall multiply my days ^eas the sand.

¹⁹My ^froot was spread out ^gby the waters,

And the dew lay all night upon my ^fhbranch.

²⁰My glory was fresh in me,

And my ⁱbow 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 ^kdropped upon them.

²³And they waited for me as for the rain;

And they ^lopened their mouth wide as for ^mthe latter rain.

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

And ^othe light of my ^pcountenance they cast not down.

²⁵I chose out their way, and sat chief,

And dwelt ^qas a king in the ^rarmy,

As one that comforteth the mourners.

XXX.