# Job 29 
<a id="1" name="1"></a>
1. And Job again took up his discourse, and said: 
<a id="2" name="2"></a>
2. “Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, 
<a id="3" name="3"></a>
3. when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, 
<a id="4" name="4"></a>
4. as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, 
<a id="5" name="5"></a>
5. when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, 
<a id="6" name="6"></a>
6. when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! 
<a id="7" name="7"></a>
7. When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, 
<a id="8" name="8"></a>
8. the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; 
<a id="9" name="9"></a>
9. the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; 
<a id="10" name="10"></a>
10. the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. 
<a id="11" name="11"></a>
11. When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved, 
<a id="12" name="12"></a>
12. because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. 
<a id="13" name="13"></a>
13. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. 
<a id="14" name="14"></a>
14. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. 
<a id="15" name="15"></a>
15. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. 
<a id="16" name="16"></a>
16. I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. 
<a id="17" name="17"></a>
17. I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. 
<a id="18" name="18"></a>
18. Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand, 
<a id="19" name="19"></a>
19. my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches, 
<a id="20" name="20"></a>
20. my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’ 
<a id="21" name="21"></a>
21. “Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel. 
<a id="22" name="22"></a>
22. After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them. 
<a id="23" name="23"></a>
23. They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain. 
<a id="24" name="24"></a>
24. I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down. 
<a id="25" name="25"></a>
25. I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners. 

(ESV)