Job 29:1-25
29 And Job proceeded again to lift up his proverbial utterance and went on to say:
2 “O that I were as in the lunar months of long ago,+As in the days when God* was guarding me;+
3 When he caused his lamp to shine upon my head,[When] I would walk [through] darkness by his light;+
4 Just as I happened to be in the days of my prime,+When intimacy with God was at my tent;+
5 When the Almighty was yet with me,[When] my attendants were all around me!
6 When I washed my steps in butter,And the rock kept pouring out streams of oil for me;*+
7 When I went forth to the gate by the town,+In the public square I would prepare my seat!+
8 The boys saw me and hid themselves,And even the aged ones rose up, they stood.+
9 Princes themselves restrained words,And the palm they would put upon their mouth.+
10 The voice of the leaders themselves was hidden,And their very tongue cleaved to their palate.+
11 For the ear itself listened and proceeded to pronounce me happy,And the eye itself saw and proceeded to bear witness for me.
12 For I would rescue the afflicted one crying for help,+And the fatherless boy and anyone that had no helper.+
13 The blessing+ of the one about to perish—upon me it would come,And the heart of the widow I would make glad.+
14 With righteousness I clothed myself, and it was clothing me.+My justice was like a sleeveless coat—and a turban.
15 Eyes I became to the blind one;+And feet to the lame one I was.
16 I was a real father to the poor ones;+And the legal case of one whom I did not know—I would examine it.+
17 And I would break the jawbones of the wrongdoer,+And from his teeth I would tear* away the prey.
18 And I used to say, ‘Within my nest* I shall expire,+And like the grains of sand I shall multiply [my] days.+
19 My root is opened for the waters,+And dew itself will stay overnight upon my bough.
20 My glory is fresh with me,And my bow in my hand will shoot repeatedly.’
21 To me they listened; and they waited,And they would keep silent for my counsel.+
22 After my word they would not speak again,And upon them my word would drip.+
23 And they waited for me as for the rain,+And their mouth they opened wide for the spring rain.+
24 I would smile at them—they would not believe [it]—And the light of my face+ they would not cast down.
25 I would choose the way for them, and I was sitting as head;And I resided as a king among [his] troops,+As one who comforts the mourners.+
Footnotes
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah.
^ Lit., “was being poured out as streams of oil with me.”
^ “Tear,” by a slight correction; M, “throw.”
^ “Within my nest.” Possibly, “In my old age,” to agree with LXX.
