Job 29, side by side

¹And Job continued his discourse:

¹Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

²“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,

²Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;

³when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness,

³When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;

⁴when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God rested on my tent,

⁴As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

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

⁵When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;

⁶when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁶When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

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

⁷When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet.

⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.

⁹The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

⁹The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

¹⁰The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

¹⁰The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹For those who heard me called me blessed, and those who saw me commended me,

¹¹When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

¹²because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.

¹²Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

¹³The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

¹⁵I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

¹⁷I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.

¹⁷And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

¹⁸So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁸Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.

¹⁹My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.

²⁰My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’

²⁰My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.

²¹Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel.

²¹Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.

²²After my words, they spoke no more; my speech settled on them like dew.

²²After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.

²³They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers.

²³And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

²⁴If I smiled at them, they did not believe it; the light of my countenance was precious.

²⁴If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.

²⁵I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.

²⁵I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.