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


29:1  Job continued his discourse:
29:2  ‘How I long for the months gone by, for 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  Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,
29:5  when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,
29:6  when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
29:7  ‘When I went to the gate of the city and took my seat in the public square,
29:8  the young men saw me and stepped aside and the old men rose to their feet;
29:9  the chief men refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands;
29:10  the voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
29:11  Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me,
29:12  because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them.
29:13  The one who was dying blessed me; I made the widow’s heart sing.
29:14  I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.
29:15  I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
29:16  I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger.
29:17  I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth.
29:18  ‘I thought, “I shall die in my own house, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
29:19  My roots will reach to the water, and the dew will lie all night on my branches.
29:20  My glory will not fade; the bow will be ever new in my hand.”
29:21  ‘People listened to me expectantly, waiting in silence for my counsel.
29:22  After I had spoken, they spoke no more; my words fell gently on their ears.
29:23  They waited for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain.
29:24  When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.
29:25  I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I dwelt as a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.