¹And Job addeth to lift up his simile, and saith:— ²Who doth make me as in months past, As in the days of God’s preserving me? ³In His causing His lamp to shine on my head, By His light I walk through darkness. ⁴As I have been in days of my maturity, And the counsel of God upon my tent. ⁵When yet the Mighty One is with me. Round about me—my young ones, ⁶When washing my goings with butter, And the firm rock is with me rivulets of oil.

⁷When I go out to the gate by the city, In a broad place I prepare my seat. ⁸Seen me have youths, and they, been hidden, And the aged have risen—they stood up. ⁹Princes have kept in words, And a hand they place on their mouth. ¹⁰The voice of leaders hath been hidden, And their tongue to the palate hath cleaved. ¹¹For the ear heard, and declareth me happy, And the eye hath seen, and testifieth to me. ¹²For I deliver the afflicted who is crying, And the fatherless who hath no helper. ¹³The blessing of the perishing cometh on me, And the heart of the widow I cause to sing. ¹⁴Righteousness I have put on, and it clotheth me, As a robe and a diadem my justice. ¹⁵Eyes I have been to the blind, And feet to the lame am I. ¹⁶A father I am to the needy, And the cause I have not known I search out. ¹⁷And I break the jaw-teeth of the perverse, And from his teeth I cast away prey.

¹⁸And I say, ‘With my nest I expire, And as the sand I multiply days.’ ¹⁹My root is open unto the waters, And dew doth lodge on my branch. ²⁰My honour is fresh with me, And my bow in my hand is renewed. ²¹To me they have hearkened, Yea, they wait, and are silent for my counsel. ²²After my word they change not, And on them doth my speech drop, ²³And they wait as for rain for me, And their mouth they have opened wide As for the latter rain. ²⁴I laugh unto them—they give no credence, And the light of my face cause not to fall. ²⁵I choose their way, and sit head, And I dwell as a king in a troop, When mourners he doth comfort.

Chapter 30

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