| 29 | Job | ||
| 1 | And Job again took up his discourse, and said: | Job's final statement of his case. Jb.29.1-31.40 | |
| 2 | "Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; | ||
| 3 | when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; | ||
| 4 | as I was in my autumn days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent; | ||
| 5 | when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about 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 prepared my seat in the square, | ||
| 8 | the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; | ||
| 9 | the princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth; | ||
| 10 | the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. | ||
| 11 | When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved; | ||
| 12 | because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him. | ||
| 13 | The blessing of him who was about to perish 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 poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. | ||
| 17 | I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made him drop his prey from his teeth. | ||
| 18 | Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand, | ||
| 19 | my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches, | ||
| 20 | my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.' | ||
| 21 | "Men 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. | ||
| 23 | They waited for me as for the rain; and 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 cast down. | ||
| 25 | I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners. | ||
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