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29:1  And Job again took up his discussion 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 above and upon my head and by His light I walked through darkness;
29:4  As I was in the [prime] ripeness of my days, when the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,
29:5  When the Almighty was yet with me and my children were about me,
29:6  When my steps [through rich pasturage] were washed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
29:7  When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the street [the broad place for the council at the city’s gate],
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 hands on their mouths;
29:10  The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues cleaved to the roof of their mouths.
29:11  For when the ear heard, it called me happy and blessed me; and when the eye saw, it testified for me [approvingly],
29:12  Because I delivered the poor who cried, the fatherless and him who had none to help him.
29:13  The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me or clothed itself with me; my justice was like a robe and a turban or a diadem or a crown!
29:15  I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
29:16  I was a father to the poor and needy; the cause of him I did not know I searched out.
29:17  And I broke the jaws or the big teeth of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
29:18  Then I said, I shall die in or beside my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
29:19  My root is spread out and open to the waters, and the dew lies all night upon my branch.
29:20  My glory and honor are fresh in me [being constantly renewed], and my bow gains [ever] new strength in my hand.
29:21  Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.
29:22  After I spoke, they did not speak again, and my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower].
29:23  And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths wide as for the spring rain.
29:24  I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and their depression did not cast down the light of my countenance.
29:25  I chose their way [for them] and sat as [their] chief, and dwelt like a king among his soldiers, like one who comforts mourners.