JOB 29
Job’s Summary Defense
[1] And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
[2] “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
[3] when his lamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
[4] as I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
[5] when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were all around me,
[6] when my steps were washed with butter,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
[7] When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
[8] the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
[9] the princes refrained from talking
and laid their hand on their mouth;
[10] the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
[11] When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
[12] because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
[13] The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
[14] I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
[15] I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
[16] I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
[17] I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
[18] Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
[19] my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches,
[20] my glory fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
[21] “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
[22] After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them.
[23] They waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
[24] I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my face they did not cast down.
[25] I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners. (ESV)
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