Job Finishes His Defense

29 Job again took up his discourse and said:

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

as in the days when God watched over me;

3 when his lamp shone over my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness;

4 when I was in my prime,

when the friendship of God was upon my tent;

5 when the Almightya was still with me,

when my children were around me;

6 when my steps were washed with milk,

and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

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

when I took my seat in the square,

8 the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose up and stood;

9 the nobles refrained from talking,

and laid their hands on their mouths;

10 the voices of princes were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11 When the ear heard, it commended me,

and when the eye saw, it approved;

12 because I delivered the poor who cried,

and the orphan who had no helper.

13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,

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

14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a turban.

15 I was eyes to the blind,

and feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy,

and I championed the cause of the stranger.

17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,

and made them drop their prey from their teeth.

18 Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,

and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;b

19 my roots spread out to the waters,

with the dew all night on my branches;

20 my glory was fresh with me,

and my bow ever new in my hand.’

21 “They listened to me, and waited,

and kept silence for my counsel.

22 After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word dropped upon them like dew.c

23 They waited for me as for the rain;

they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence;

and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.d

25 I chose their way, and sat as chief,

and I lived like a king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.