Job 29

Job Continues

29Job continued to speak:

²“How I wish for the months that have passed

and the days when God watched over me.

³God’s lamp shined on my head,

and I walked through darkness by his light.

⁴I wish for the days when I was strong,

when God’s close friendship blessed my house.

⁵The Almighty was still with me,

and my children were all around me.

⁶It was as if my path were covered with cream

and the rocks poured out olive oil for me.

⁷I would go to the city gate

and sit in the public square.

⁸When the young men saw me, they would step aside,

and the old men would stand up in respect.

⁹The leading men stopped speaking

and covered their mouths with their hands.

¹⁰The voices of the important men were quiet,

as if their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹Anyone who heard me spoke well of me,

and those who saw me praised me,

¹²because I saved the poor who called out

and the orphan who had no one to help.

¹³The dying person blessed me,

and I made the widow’s heart sing.

¹⁴I put on right living as if it were clothing;

I wore fairness like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes for the blind

and feet for the lame.

¹⁶I was like a father to needy people,

and I took the side of strangers who were in trouble.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of evil people

and snatched the captives from their teeth.

¹⁸“I thought, ‘I will live for as many days as there are grains of sand,

and I will die in my own house.

¹⁹My roots will reach down to the water.

The dew will lie on the branches all night.

²⁰New honors will come to me continually,

and I will always have great strength.’

²¹“People listened to me carefully

and waited quietly for my advice.

²²After I finished speaking, they spoke no more.

My words fell very gently on their ears.

²³They waited for me as they would for rain

and drank in my words like spring rain.

²⁴I smiled at them when they doubted,

and my approval was important to them.

²⁵I chose the way for them and was their leader.

I lived like a king among his army,

like a person who comforts sad people.