Job 29 — ASVBT

29Verse 1And Job again took up his parable, and said,^{Verse 2}Oh that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me;
^{Verse 3}When his lamp shined upon my head,
And by his light I walked through darkness;
^{Verse 4}As I was in the ripeness of my days,
When the friendship of God was upon my tent;
^{Verse 5}When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were about me;
^{Verse 6}When my steps were washed with butter,
And the rock poured me out streams of oil!
^{Verse 7}When I went forth to the gate unto the city,
When I prepared my seat in the street,
^{Verse 8}The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood;
^{Verse 9}The princes refrained from talking,
And laid their hand on their mouth;
^{Verse 10}The voice of the nobles was hushed,
And their tongue clave to the roof of their mouth.
^{Verse 11}For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:
^{Verse 12}Because I delivered the poor that cried,
The fatherless also, that had none to help him.
^{Verse 13}The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
^{Verse 14}I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:
My justice was as a robe and a diadem.
^{Verse 15}I was eyes to the blind,
And feet was I to the lame.
^{Verse 16}I was a father to the needy:
And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
^{Verse 17}And I brake the jaws of the unrighteous,
And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
^{Verse 18}Then I said, I shall die in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand:
^{Verse 19}My root is spread out to the waters,
And the dew lieth all night upon my branch:
^{Verse 20}My glory is fresh in me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.
^{Verse 21}Unto me men gave ear, and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
^{Verse 22}After my words they spake not again;
And my speech distilled upon them.
^{Verse 23}And they waited for me as for the rain;
And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
^{Verse 24}I smiled on them, when they had no confidence;
And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
^{Verse 25}I chose out their way, and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king in the army,
As one that comforteth the mourners.