Job 29

VIN(i) 1 Then Job continued with his discourse: 2 "O that I were as in the months before, as in the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, 4 as when I was in the days of my prime, when God's confiding was over my house, 5 when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me, 6 When I bathed my steps in cream, and the rock poured out near me streamlets of oil! 7 "When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square, 8 The young men saw me, and went away, and the old men got up from their seats; 9 Nobles would resfrain from speaking, covering their mouths with their hands. 10 The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. 11 For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me: 12 For I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. 13 The blessing of the perishing came on me; and I made the widow's heart to sing. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my justice was as a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. 16 "I was a father to the needy! I championed the cause of the stranger. 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the prey out of his teeth. 18 Then I said, 'I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand. 19 My root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branch; 20 My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.' 21 "Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel. 22 After I had spoken, they spake not again, and, upon them, used my speech to drop; 23 They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain. 24 Were I to laugh at them, they would not believe it; and the light of my face has not failed. 25 "I chose their way, and sat as chief. I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.