Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 29 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


29:1  Then Job spoke again and said,
29:2  “If only I could be now as I was in the months past when God watched over me!
29:3  His lamp shined over my head then and by His light I walked through darkness.
29:4  Those days were my best days when God was my friend watching over my tent.
29:5  The All-powerful was still with me, and my children were around me.
29:6  My path was washed with milk, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me.
29:7  When I went to the city gate and took my place with the leaders of the city,
29:8  the young men saw me and let me go by. The old men rose and stood.
29:9  The leaders stopped talking, and put their hands on their mouths.
29:10  The voices of the rulers were quiet. Their tongues held to the roof of their mouths.
29:11  Those who heard me, honored me. Those who saw me, respected me,
29:12  because I helped the poor man when he cried for help and the child without parents who had no one to help him.
29:13  Good came to me from the man who was dying. And I made the heart of the woman whose husband had died sing for joy.
29:14  I put on what was right and good, and it clothed me. The right things done were my coat and head-covering.
29:15  I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the man who could not walk.
29:16  I was a father to those in need. And I helped those I did not know who had a need.
29:17  I broke the jaws of the sinful, and took from their teeth what they had taken.
29:18  Then I thought, ‘I will die in my nest. My days will be as many as the sand.
29:19  My roots go to the water. As the water is on the grass in the early morning, it will be all night on my branches.
29:20  My honor is always new to me, and my bow is new in my hand.’
29:21  “Men listened to me and waited. They were quiet so they could hear my words of wisdom.
29:22  After I spoke, they did not speak again. My words stayed with them.
29:23  They waited for me as for rain. And they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
29:24  I looked at them with joy when they were not sure of themselves, and the light of my face gave them comfort.
29:25  I decided the way for them and sat as their leader. I lived as a king among his army, and like one who gives comfort to those in sorrow.