Job 29:1-16 ▼

1 Then Job continued his speech:

2 |O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me,

3 when he caused his lamp to shine upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;

4 just as I was in my most productive time, when God's intimate friendship was experienced in my tent,

5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me;

6 when my steps were bathed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!

7 When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square,

8 the young men would see me and step aside, and the old men would get up and remain standing;

9 the chief men refrained from talking and covered their mouths with their hands;

10 the voices of the nobles fell silent, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11 |As soon as the ear heard these things, it blessed me, and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;

13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, and I made the widow's heart rejoice;

14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me, my just dealing was like a robe and a turban;

15 I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame;

16 I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;