f.
Dwelling on his excellent past
29:1-25
Job 29
:1
29:1
Then Job again took up his discourse and said,
Job 29
:2
29:2
Oh that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me;
Job 29
:3
29:3
When His lamp shone over my head,
And by His light I walked through darkness;
Job 29
:4
29:4
As I was in the days of my
1prime,
When
aintimate counsel with God was over my tent;
Job 29
:5
29:5
When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were around me;
Job 29
:6
29:6
When my steps were bathed in milk,
And the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
Job 29
:7
29:7
When I went out to the gate of the city,
When I prepared my seat in the square,
Job 29
:8
29:8
The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up
and stood.
Job 29
:9
29:9
Princes refrained from talking
And laid
their hand over their mouth.
Job 29
:10
29:10
The voice of the nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29
:11
29:11
For when the ear heard
me, it blessed me;
And when the eye saw
me, it bore witness to me;
Job 29
:12
29:12
Because I delivered the poor man who cried out,
And the orphan who had no one to help him.
Job 29
:13
29:13
The blessing of him who was perishing came upon me,
And I made the widow’s heart shout for joy.
Job 29
:14
29:14
I put on
arighteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
Job 29
:15
29:15
I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
Job 29
:16
29:16
I was a father to the needy,
And the cause of him whom I did not know I investigated.
Job 29
:17
29:17
I broke the jaws of the unjust
And made him drop the prey from his teeth.
Job 29
:18
29:18
Then I said, I will die in my nest,
And I will multiply
my days like the sand.
Job 29
:19
29:19
My root is spread out to the water,
And dew abides on my branch at night.
Job 29
:20
29:20
My glory is
always new with me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.
Job 29
:21
29:21
Men listened to me and waited,
And they were silent for my counsel.
Job 29
:22
29:22
After my words they spoke not again,
And my speech distilled
like adew upon them.
Job 29
:23
29:23
And they waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide
as for the late rain.
Job 29
:24
29:24
I smiled on them — they could not believe
it;
And they did not cast down the light of my countenance.
Job 29
:25
29:25
I chose the way for them and sat as chief,
And I dwelt as a king among the troops,
As one who comforts those who mourn.
