¹Job again took up his parable , and said,

²“Oh that I were as in the months of old ,

as in the days when God watched over me ;

³when his lamp shone on my head ,

and by his light I walked through darkness ,

⁴as I was in my prime ,

when the friendship of God was in my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me ,

and my children were around me ,

⁶when my steps were washed with butter ,

and the rock poured out streams of oil for me ,

⁷when I went out to the city gate ,

when I prepared my seat in the street .

⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves .

The aged rose up and stood .

⁹The princes refrained from talking ,

and laid their hand on their mouth .

¹⁰The voice of the nobles was hushed ,

and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth .

¹¹For when the ear heard me , then it blessed me ,

and when the eye saw me , it commended me ,

¹²because I delivered the poor who cried ,

and the fatherless also , who had no one to help him ,

¹³the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me ,

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy .

¹⁴I put on righteousness , and it clothed me .

My justice was as a robe and a diadem .

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind ,

and feet to the lame .

¹⁶I was a father to the needy.

I researched the cause of him whom I didn’t know .

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the unrighteous

and plucked the prey out of his teeth .

¹⁸Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house,

I will count my days as the sand .

¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters .

The dew lies all night on my branch .

²⁰My glory is fresh in me .

My bow is renewed in my hand .’

²¹“Men listened to me , waited ,

and kept silence for my counsel .

²²After my words they didn’t speak again .

My speech fell on them .

²³They waited for me as for the rain .

Their mouths drank as with the spring rain .

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence.

They didn’t reject the light of my face .

²⁵I chose out their way , and sat as chief .

I lived as a king in the army ,

as one who comforts the mourners.