Job 29:1–25

Job’s Summary Defense

29And Job again ^ztook up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,

as in the days when God watched over me,

³when his ^alamp shone upon my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness,

⁴as I was in my prime,¹

when the ^bfriendship of God was upon my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,

when my ^cchildren were all around me,

⁶when my steps were ^dwashed with ^ebutter,

and ^fthe rock poured out for me streams of ^goil!

⁷When I went out to ^hthe gate of the city,

when I prepared my seat in the square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose and stood;

⁹the princes refrained from talking

and ⁱlaid their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,

and their ^jtongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,

and when the eye saw, it approved,

¹²because I ^kdelivered the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to help him.

^13lThe blessing of him who was ^mabout to perish came upon me,

and I caused ⁿthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I ^oput on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and ^pa turban.

¹⁵I was ^qeyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy,

and I searched out ^rthe cause of him whom I did not know.

¹⁷I ^sbroke ^tthe fangs of the unrighteous

and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

^18uThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^vnest,

and I shall multiply my days as ^wthe sand,

¹⁹my ^xroots spread out to ^ythe waters,

with the dew all night on my ^zbranches,

²⁰my glory fresh with me,

and my ^abow ever ^bnew in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited

and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word ^cdropped upon them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain,

and they ^dopened their mouths as for the ^espring rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,

and ^fthe light of my ^gface they did not cast down.

²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,

and I lived like ^ha king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.