Job 29:11-25

English Standard Version

¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹²because I ^(A)delivered the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to help him.
¹³^(B)The blessing of him who was ^(C)about to perish came upon me,
    and I caused ^(D)the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I ^(E)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and ^(F)a turban.
¹⁵I was ^(G)eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
    and I searched out ^(H)the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I ^(I)broke ^(J)the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
¹⁸^(K)Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^(L)nest,
    and I shall multiply my days as ^(M)the sand,
¹⁹my ^(N)roots spread out to ^(O)the waters,
    with the dew all night on my ^(P)branches,
²⁰my glory fresh with me,
    and my ^(Q)bow ever ^(R)new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word ^(S)dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they ^(T)opened their mouths as for the ^(U)spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and ^(V)the light of my ^(W)face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
    and I lived like ^(X)a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.