Job 29

Job’s Final Defense

¹Job continued his discourse:

²“How I long for the months gone by,

for the days when God watched over me,

³when his lamp shone on my head

and by his light I walked through darkness!

⁴Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,

when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,

⁵when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me,

⁶when my path was drenched with cream

and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.

⁷“When I went to the gate of the city

and took my seat in the public square,

⁸the young men saw me and stepped aside

and the old men rose to their feet;

⁹the chief men refrained from speaking

and covered their mouths with their hands;

¹⁰the voices of the nobles were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹Whoever heard me spoke well of me,

and those who saw me commended me,

¹²because I rescued the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to assist them.

¹³The one who was dying blessed me;

I made the widow’s heart sing.

¹⁴I put on righteousness as my clothing;

justice was my robe and my turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy;

I took up the case of the stranger.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of the wicked

and snatched the victims from their teeth.

¹⁸“I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,

my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

¹⁹My roots will reach to the water,

and the dew will lie all night on my branches.

²⁰My glory will not fade;

the bow will be ever new in my hand.’

²¹“People listened to me expectantly,

waiting in silence for my counsel.

²²After I had spoken, they spoke no more;

my words fell gently on their ears.

²³They waited for me as for showers

and drank in my words as the spring rain.

²⁴When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;

the light of my face was precious to them.

²⁵I 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.