Job Recalls His Former Condition47

29:1 Then Job continued1 his speech:

29:2 “O that I could be2 as3 I was

in the months now gone,4

in the days5 when God watched6 over me,

29:3 when7 he caused8 his lamp9

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked10 through darkness;11

29:4 just as I was in my most productive time,12

when God’s intimate friendship13 was experienced in my tent,

29:5 when the Almighty14 was still with me

and my children were15 around me;

29:6 when my steps16 were bathed17 with butter18

and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!19

29:7 When I went out to the city gate

and secured my seat in the public square,20

29:8 the young men would see me and step aside,21

and the old men would get up and remain standing;

29:9 the chief men refrained from talking

and covered their mouths with their hands;

29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent,22

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.