Job 29:1
And Job continued his parable and said,
Job 29:2
Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when +God preserved me;
Job 29:3
When his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
Job 29:4
As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret counsel of +God was over my tent,
Job 29:5
When the Almighty was yet with me, my young men round about me;
Job 29:6
When my steps were bathed in milk, and the rock poured out beside me rivers of oil! ...
Job 29:7
When I went out to the gate by the city, when I prepared my seat on the broadway,
Job 29:8
The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose and stood up;
Job 29:9
Princes refrained from talking, and laid the hand on their mouth;
Job 29:10
The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to their palate.
Job 29:11
When the ear heard me , then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me , it gave witness to me;
Job 29:12
For I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper.
Job 29:13
The blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
Job 29:14
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban.
Job 29:15
I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame;
Job 29:16
I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out;
Job 29:17
And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Job 29:18
And I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand;
Job 29:19
My root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branch;
Job 29:20
My glory shall be fresh in me, and my bow be renewed in my hand.
Job 29:21
Unto me they listened, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel:
Job 29:22
After my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them;
Job 29:23
And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
Job 29:24
If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and they troubled not the serenity of my countenance.
Job 29:25
I chose their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth mourners.