Job 29

Job’s Final Defense

¹Then Job again took up his discourse and said,[#Hebrew “And”]

²“O that I were as in the months before,[#Literally “Who shall give me”]

as in the days when God watched over me,

³when his shining lamp was over my head—

by his light I walked through darkness—

⁴as when I was in the days of my prime,

when God’s confiding was over my house,

⁵when Shaddaiwas still with me,

my children were all around me,

⁶when my paths were washed in sour milk,

and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.

⁷“At my going out the gate to the city,

I secured my seat in the square.

⁸Young men saw me and stepped aside,

and the aged rose up and stood.

⁹Officials refrained from talking,

and they laid their hand on their mouth.

¹⁰The voices of nobles were hushed,[#Hebrew “voice”; collective singular by context, governing a plural verb]

and their tongue stuck to their palate.

¹¹“When the ear heard and commended me,

and the eye saw and testified in support of me

¹²because I saved the needy who cried for help,

and I saved the orphan for whom there was no helper.

¹³The blessing of the wretched came upon me,

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

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a headband.

¹⁵“I was eyes to the blind,

and I was feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor,

and I investigated the stranger’s legal dispute.

¹⁷And I broke the evil one’s jaw bones,

and I made his prey drop from his teeth.

¹⁸“And I thought, ‘I will pass away in my nest,

and like the phoenix I shall multiply my days.

¹⁹My roots were open to water,

and dew spent the night on my branches;

²⁰My glory was new with me,

and I was revitalized regularly.’

²¹“They listened to me and waited,

and they kept silent for my counsel.

²²After my word, they did not speak again,

and my word dropped down like dew upon them.

²³And they waited for me as for the rain,

and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.

²⁴I smiled for them when they had no confidence in anything,

and they did not extinguish the light of my face.

²⁵I chose their way, and I sat as head,

and I dwelled like a king among the troops,

like one who comforts mourners.