Job 29

The Voice

² Job: Ah, that I were as I once was, months ago
        during the time when God oversaw me,
³     When His lamp shone above my head,
        and by His light, I walked through the darkness.
⁴     Ah, to be in the ripest time of life once more—
        when the intimacies of friendship with God enfolded my tent,
⁵     When the Highest One^[a] was with me
        and my children encircled me,
⁶     When my steps were bathed in milk
        and the rock poured out rivers of olive oil, showering my body,
⁷     When I went up to the gate of the city,
        when I took my seat in the town square where the elders meet.
⁸     There the young saw me and made room for me, in deference to elders.
        The old rose and stood out of respect.
⁹     The leaders stopped talking
        with their hands over their mouths.
¹⁰     The voices of nobles fell to a hush;
        their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.
¹¹     Every ear that heard me blessed me,
        and every eye that saw me testified to my greatness.
¹²     After all, I rescued the poor when they cried out for help
        and assisted the orphans when they had no one else.

¹³     The dying spoke their blessings over me,
        and the widows sang their joyful songs honoring what I did.
¹⁴     I adorned myself in righteousness,
        and it covered me;
        my justice fit me like a cloak and turban—
        conveying both my dignity and my authority.
¹⁵     I was the eyes for the blind,
        the feet for the lame,
¹⁶     A father for the needy,
        and I sought for the cause of whom I did not know.
¹⁷     I broke out the fangs of the wicked
        and wrested prey from their jaws.
¹⁸     Then I said, “I will pass from this earth in the comfort of my nest.
        My days will be more numerous than a beach’s grains of sand.
¹⁹     My roots will grow deep, spreading out to the water’s edge,
        and in the night, the dew will come to rest on my branches.
²⁰     Respect will be accorded me every day,
        my skill with the bow always new in my hand.”

²¹     People used to listen to me,
        the sense of expectation visible on their faces;
        they waited in silence for my advice.
²²     And when I finished, they did not hurry to speak again.
        They waited while my words dropped like dew upon them.
²³     Indeed, they waited for me as one waits for a good rain,
        and they opened their mouths as if to catch spring showers on their tongues.
²⁴     I smiled upon them when their confidence flagged,
        and they took comfort in my beaming face.^[b]
25     I led them in their way.
        I sat as their leader.
    I lived like a king among his troops.
        I was as a happy man spreading comfort among the mourners.