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 Almightyt 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 roofs 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;u,*

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.v,*

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.w

25 I chose what they should do and sat as chief,

and I lived like a king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.*