Job 29 - ESV Bible - And Job again took up his discourse, and said:...

1 And Job again ¹took up his discourse, and said:

2 "Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

3 when his ²lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

4 as I was in my prime,^a when the ³friendship of God was upon my tent,

5 when the Almighty was yet with me, when my ⁴children were all around me,

6 when my steps were ⁵washed with ⁶butter, and ⁷the rock poured out for me streams of ⁸oil!

7 When I went out to ⁹the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,

8 the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

9 the princes refrained from talking and ¹⁰laid their hand on their mouth;

10 the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their ¹¹tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,

12 because I ¹²delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

13 ¹³The blessing of him who was ¹⁴about to perish came upon me, and I caused ¹⁵the widow's heart to sing for joy.

14 I ¹⁶put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and ¹⁷a turban.

15 I was ¹⁸eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy, and I searched out ¹⁹the cause of him whom I did not know.

17 I ²⁰broke ²¹the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

18 ²²Then I thought, 'I shall die in my ²³nest, and I shall multiply my days as ²⁴the sand,

19 my ²⁵roots spread out to ²⁶the waters, with the dew all night on my ²⁷branches,

20 my glory fresh with me, and my ²⁸bow ever ²⁹new in my hand.'

21 "Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

22 After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word ³⁰dropped upon them.

23 They waited for me as for the rain, and they ³¹opened their mouths as for the ³²spring rain.

24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and ³³the light of my ³⁴face they did not cast down.

25 I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like ³⁵a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

Job 29 ESV