Job Chapter 29 Back Next{29:1}
Job again took up his parable, and said,
{29:2} "Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
{29:3} when his
lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through
darkness,
{29:4} as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,
{29:5} when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me,
{29:6} when my steps were washed with
butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,
{29:7} when I went forth to the city
gate, when I prepared my seat in the street.
{29:8} The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood.
{29:9} The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
{29:10} The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
{29:11} For when the ear heard me, then it
blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me:
{29:12} Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had none to help him,
{29:13} the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow's
heart to sing for joy.
{29:14} I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a
diadem.
{29:15} I was eyes to the
blind, and feet to the lame.
{29:16} I was a
father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out.
{29:17} I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
{29:18} Then I said, 'I shall die in my own house, I shall number my days as the sand.
{29:19} My root is spread out to the waters. The
dew lies all night on my branch.
{29:20} My glory is fresh in me. My
bow is renewed in my hand.'
{29:21} "Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
{29:22} After my words they didn't speak again. My speech fell on them.
{29:23} They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain.
{29:24} I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn't reject the light of my face.
{29:25} I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the
army, as one who comforts the mourners.
Job Chapter 29 Back Next