Job 29

^{Job 29:1} And Job continued his discourse:

^{Job 29:2} “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,

^{Job 29:3} when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness,

^{Job 29:4} when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God rested on my tent,

^{Job 29:5} when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,

^{Job 29:6} when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

^{Job 29:7} When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,

^{Job 29:8} the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet.

^{Job 29:9} The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

^{Job 29:10} The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

^{Job 29:11} For those who heard me called me blessed, and those who saw me commended me,

^{Job 29:12} because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.

^{Job 29:13} The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

^{Job 29:14} I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.

^{Job 29:15} I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame.

^{Job 29:16} I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.

^{Job 29:17} I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.

^{Job 29:18} So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.

^{Job 29:19} My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.

^{Job 29:20} My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’

^{Job 29:21} Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel.

^{Job 29:22} After my words, they spoke no more; my speech settled on them like dew.

^{Job 29:23} They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers.

^{Job 29:24} If I smiled at them, they did not believe it; the light of my countenance was precious.

^{Job 29:25} I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.